


On Swamps and Monsters

by MotherRameses



Series: Thranto! Thranto! Thranto! [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Blood Crow Era, Cowboy Medicine - whiskey applied externally and internally, Hand Jobs, Kissing, Leg Wounds, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Port in a Storm, Thrantober, Thrantober - monster, smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-16 18:16:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherRameses/pseuds/MotherRameses
Summary: Thrawn and Eli are sent to track down some smugglers on a swamp planet, and find much more than they bargained for.





	1. The First Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm late for Thantober >.> I saw the prompt "monster" and also saw "cowboy medicine - whiskey applied externally and internally" in another post and wanted to make something short and sweet, and it turned into this. 
> 
> But here it is! MASSIVE thanks to Selene_Lematya for the very in-depth beta help, from tone to smut pacing to answering all sorts of insane medical questions. She is amazing, ya'll <3 <3
> 
> "Graphic Depictions Of Violence" applies more to later chapters, and is perhaps a bit too strong a tag, but I try to over-tag just in case! I'll have more explanation for that warning in later notes. Additionally, see the end note for the exact (spoiler) description of the violence in each chapter if you want to check! (There is explanation at the end of this chapter.)

Eli was pissed. 

They had been trekking for hours in a disgusting muck of a swamp, on a godforsaken planet so remote it didn’t even have a name, on a search for smugglers Eli was certain had long since left the system. 

Of course Captain Rossi had assigned him and Thrawn to the wretched task. It was her prerogative to try and make Thrawn as miserable as possible, and she hadn’t even deigned to send along a squad for backup should they need it. It was further proof in Eli’s mind that their hunt for the criminals was useless, and each step he took, boots sinking deep into foul-smelling sludge, solidified that opinion. 

“How much farther-- Kriff!” Eli swore as he lost his footing and tumbled into the swamp, feet flying out from under him as he landed on his ass. He felt the mud begin to swallow him up, threaten to suck him further down, before Thrawn grasped his arm and pulled him to his feet.

“Thanks,” Eli grumbled, hating the feeling of the sludge dripping down the back of his tunic. “How much further?” He asked Thrawn, who had turned back to clearing the path ahead of them. Rossi had ordered them dropped off at the edge of the swamp, claiming that there wouldn’t be a clear landing area near the presumed smuggler den deep within the dark, damp terrain. 

“Perhaps another twenty minutes, and we will breach the perimeter.” Thrawn replied, hacking at another group of low-hanging branches with his vibroblade before clearing a space wide enough for them to pass. Where Thrawn had obtained the weapon, Eli had no idea - it certainly wasn’t Imperial issue, and Rossi had only allowed them basic supplies (sporting flawed reasoning that their trek would be long, so carrying more than the basics would slow them down). But Thrawn had produced the blade from the sleeve of his tunic once the shuttle had departed, and it had been instrumental in clearing the undergrowth. 

“Any special instructions for when we get there?” Eli asked, following Thrawn through the gap and grimacing as something slimy shucked off one of the broken branches and oozed down his tunic sleeve. All the plants in the swamp were coated with some sort of brown sludge, and Eli had given up on trying to avoid the stuff. Although, it didn’t particularly matter now that he had fallen into the mess moments ago… He shuddered and tried not to think about how filthy he was.

“While I do not anticipate we will find anything of note, we will still proceed with caution,” Thrawn said over his shoulder, deactivating the blade and wiping the hilt on his trousers before sheathing the weapon. “Hopefully the swamp will not have so overtaken the compound that we will have difficulty entering.”

“I still don’t see why Rossi wants us to check it out in the first place,” Eli grumbled, mostly to himself. 

Thrawn hummed noncommittally, which Eli took for agreement. If Thrawn thought this disgusting job was worth it, he would have said so. 

They didn’t speak further as they proceeded through the undergrowth, and with nothing else to distract him (unless he wanted to spend more brainpower being frustrated with the situation, which he knew was a waste of energy), Eli thought about that little exchange. How over the years, he and Thrawn had worked out their own way of communicating, little quirks and expressions and signals to voice their thoughts and opinions in ways that Eli felt others didn’t have. 

At first, the thought made him smile. But then Eli caught himself, and he gave himself a little mental shake. 

Of course he and Thrawn would have figured out how to work well together - Thrawn was an excellent officer, and Eli didn’t think he was too shabby an ensign himself. It was their duty to function properly and get things done. They had spent years together, and it was natural that they had come to such a point. 

It certainly had nothing to do with how Eli felt about Thrawn. 

Certainly nothing with how he hoped Thrawn felt about him.

Eli gave himself another mental shake. Thrawn was his superior, and Eli was his aide. That was it. The few years they had spent together meant they had a strong professional relationship, and perhaps a small friendship. Nothing more. 

The fact that anger boiled in his gut when Rossi treated Thrawn like second-class garbage was simply because Eli respected the man. The fact that, when he could, Eli handled whatever annoying task Rossi had assigned Thrawn was simply because he knew Thrawn’s time was better spent doing his actual job, researching and tracking enemies of the Empire. The fact that Eli liked spending time with Thrawn was simply because Thrawn was objectively nice to be around - intelligent, polite, kind. 

Not because Eli had a massive crush on the Chiss. Nope. Definitely not.

Eli repeated that to himself as they continued fighting their way through the swamp, though the mantra did little to ease his frustration. Even covered in sweat and grime and stars knew what else this swamp had foisted upon them, Thrawn still cut a handsome figure through the foliage. Eli tried not to stare as Thrawn hacked through a particularly stubborn group on vines, the muscles of his back and shoulders flexing though his now-ruined tunic. At one point, a fallen tree had blocked their path, and rather than sinking into the muck to crawl beneath it, or struggling to climb the rotting trunk, Thrawn had merely squatted down and heaved the thing out of their way. A few strands of his black hair had fallen into his face when he did that, and Eli hoped Thrawn assumed his flushed face was merely from exertion, and not a hot blush that had risen to his cheeks when Thrawn had turned around to make sure Eli was still keeping up. 

After what felt like much longer than twenty minutes (though Eli honestly couldn’t be sure), Thrawn silently held up a hand, motioning to Eli to stop. Eli did so, quietly sidling up behind Thrawn as the Chiss pulled aside a group of leaves to peer through them. Eli could just spy the wall of a run-down building in a clearing ahead of them, its side spattered with mud and vines creeping their way towards the dilapidated roof. 

Eli didn’t speak as Thrawn studied the building, and after a moment, Thrawn gave a short nod and motioned them forward. Cautiously, they picked their way through the last of the leaves and branches and emerged into the clearing, Eli’s ears pricked for any sign of the smugglers Rossi had said would be there. 

As they neared, it became clear the compound was totally abandoned. A set of power generators, not unlike the ones Thrawn had used on his exile planet, sat next to the main structure, their panels rusted and cables unconnected. The creeping vines had covered the door, which clearly hadn’t been opened for some time, and the path leading up to said door had become overgrown with disuse. 

Out of the corner of Eli’s eye, a passing shadow caught his attention. He turned to peer into the trees surrounding the clearing, searching for any hint of motion, but couldn’t see what had caused it. Glancing at Thrawn, he saw the Chiss had noticed the shadow as well. But rather than watching the tree line, Thrawn had turned his gaze upward. 

“What was it?” Eli quietly asked, but Thrawn again held up a hand, asking for silence as he scanned the tops of the trees. Eli swallowed hard, turning back to the swamp and carefully unholstering his blaster. If it was something innocuous, Thrawn would have said so. 

A few tense minutes passed, Eli shifting his gaze between Thrawn and the swamp, before Thrawn lowered his hand. 

“We must get inside,” Thrawn said softly, barely more than a whisper. He passed Eli the vibroblade and unholstered his own blaster. “You clear the vines on the door. I will cover us.”

“What is it?” Eli asked, eyes going wide as he took the blade and re-holstered his weapon.

“A predator,” Thrawn said, urging Eli towards the door and flanking him as they walked. “Quickly.”

Eli felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as they reached the door, and he forced himself to turn his back on the tree line as he studied the vines. They were the same type as the ones Thrawn had hacked through in the swamp, and Eli was momentarily impressed at Thrawn’s strength as he got to work the thick stems. It took several forceful cuts to make it through just one of the verdant tendrils, and Eli silently cursed his slow progress when Thrawn asked for an update.

“Gettin’ there,” Eli huffed, attacking a vine that was almost out of his reach. It was more stubborn than the rest, and he found himself quickly growing frustrated. He gave up on the vine and tried to open the door, hoping he could force his way in without having to cut anymore, but it wouldn’t budge. Sighing, he turned to Thrawn.

“I can’t get this one, can you--” Eli clamped his mouth shut, heart leaping into his throat as he saw what had been behind him.

Somehow, silently, a massive creature had landed in the clearing and had been creeping up on them. It was _huge,_ twice as tall as Thrawn and easily four times as wide - some sort of avian, with black leathery wings that connected to its clawed forefeet. Its loping stance reminded Eli of a gundark, but rather than the stout lump of eyes and teeth that rested upon a gundark’s shoulders, this creature had a long, powerful neck topped by a sleek, sinister head. Its serrated beak, which possessed a nearly metallic shine, was parted in a hungry grin. Its black eyes glittered in the waning sunlight as it slowly stalked towards them, terrifying head held low. It was unsettling how silently it moved; Eli saw how its claws broke the ground beneath it with each step, sinking into the mud then gracefully pulling out again, almost like a dancer treading lightly across a stage.

“The door, Ensign,” Thrawn whispered without turning, not taking his eyes from the creature. He had his blaster trained on it, back straight and stance strong as it creeped ever-closer. 

Wordlessly, Eli whirled around and raised the lance, hacking at the vines he had previously given up on, heart pounding in his throat. It was terrifying how unchanged the situation was from a minute ago, the swamp still silent, no indication of the nightmare that was stalking up behind him. 

That didn’t last.

“Got it!” Eli grunted as he finally cut through the last creeper, chest heaving as he lowered his aching arms and flung the door open. 

“Go!” Eli hadn’t even turned around before Thrawn shoved him through the doorway, sending him sprawling on the dusty floor. Eli’s heart froze as a wretched screech erupted from behind him and Thrawn’s blaster answered, and he rolled onto his back to find Thrawn on the ground as well, shuffling backwards as he fired through the doorway. The creature had leapt forward, the terrifying screech not ending as it reached the door, one obsidian-clawed forelimb reaching across the threshold. 

Thrawn nearly bowled Eli over again as he scooted further backwards, and Eli tumbled out of the way as he fumbled with his own blaster. Thrawn’s shots were slowing the creature down, and it didn’t seem to be able to fit through the door, but Eli could feel the building tremble around them as it shoved and clawed at the opening. Dust was shaking from the ceiling, and Eli heard an awful _ crack _ as the doorframe splintered, and the beast forced its head and shoulders inside. 

“Blasterfire appears ineffective,” Thrawn grimaced, breathing hard, and Eli nodded mutely as he finally got his own blaster out of its holster and popped off a few shots. The creature’s hide smoked and sizzled where the bolts hit, but it was still coming for them, its great beak snapping and hissing with rage. 

“Go for the eyes,” Eli barked, adjusting his own aim and taking a few more shots. He swore as the bolts that hit the creature’s beak glanced off into the plaster of the walls. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he steadied his hand. 

It had been years and years since he had needed to use a blaster like this, but the muscle memory came back as he willed himself to calm. He remembered his mother’s words, simple instructions she had given him as a young boy back on Lysatra, when she taught him how to shoot. He remembered the setting sun on the horizon as he struggled to hold up the old DL-18. The heavy weapon had been nearly too big for his small hands as he aimed at the old cans lined up on the garden wall. He remembered the bark of the blaster, his mother’s steadying hand on his shoulder when his shot went wide, the quiet advice she murmured. 

“In,” Eli whispered to himself, taking a deep breath and raising his sidearm a little higher. “Out,” he breathed, letting the air rush out his lips as he took aim, meeting the beast’s glittering, enraged eye.

_ “Fire.” _

Eli’s blaster cracked, and silence fell as the beast tumbled to the ground. It was dead. 

Neither he nor Thrawn spoke for a moment, both their chests heaving as they slumped to the floor. Eli felt Thrawn’s elbow poking into his shoulder, but he didn’t move, relishing that small, infinitesimal point of contact. Thrawn was alive. He was alive. Decorum be damned. 

Wait. 

“Sir?” Eli asked, sitting up with a frown. Eli had never seen Thrawn anything other than professional, put together. Slumping onto the floor and letting his arm rest against Eli was _ not _something Thrawn would do.

“My apologies, Ensign,” Thrawn said, still laying on his back, and Eli’s eyes went wide again as he took in the sight of the Chiss. “I did not intend to fall against you, but I needed to break the creatures grasp.”

Thrawn’s right leg was… shredded, for lack of a better word. It looked as though the creature had just barely caught Thrawn’s thigh in one clawed talon, leaving two long gashes in its wake. Blood was seeping through the remains of his uniform trousers, though to Eli’s quick assessment, it didn’t look like any major arteries had been hit. Then again, he wasn’t sure if Thrawn even had arteries in the first place. 

“Okay, let’s… Let’s get you up,” Eli stuttered, throwing an uncertain look at the dead creature lying in the doorframe. “We’ll find a place to sit and get you patched up. Do you think any more of those things will come?”

“No,” Thrawn said, sitting up and examining his leg with mild interest. “The Fu’ceh’wah is a solitary beast and very territorial, and is the natural apex predator of this region. There will be no others, and its scent will keep any other types of predators away.”

“I’m not gonna even ask how you know that, Sir,” Eli grumbled as he hesitantly shuffled over to Thrawn. “Do you need help standin’ up?”

Thrawn pondered his leg for a moment longer, then nodded. “Yes, to err on the side of caution.” He indicated to the floor in front of him. “If you would provide me leverage, I believe I can stand on my uninjured leg.”

“Right.” Eli clambered to his feet, ignoring how he was still shaking from adrenaline, and planted himself in front of Thrawn. He held out his hands, and the Chiss grasped his forearms as Eli leaned backward, pulling Thrawn upward. Thrawn rose easily, balancing gracefully on his one good leg, but continued to hold onto Eli as he gingerly tested his injured leg. 

“You okay?” Eli asked quietly, the momentary flutter of his heart eclipsed by his concern for Thrawn. The Chiss’s expression had remained mostly unchanged, but Eli had known him long enough to catch the quick flicker of discomfort that crossed his features. 

“I have endured worse.” Thrawn said, finally releasing Eli and straightening. He took a hesitant step forward, and his injured leg shook terribly. “Though I would be grateful if you would assist me to the other rooms.”

“Of course.” Eli hesitantly shuffled up next alongside Thrawn, who put an arm over Eli’s shoulders. Eli paused, then put his own arm around Thrawn’s back to steady him. Together, Thrawn leaning against him, they hobbled out of the entryway into what appeared to be a common dining area. It was hard to tell - the building was of a prefabricated sort, with different sections branching off from the wider main hallway. Some sections had doors, some were closed off with curtains stretched across bare frames, and others looked as though parts of the wall had been knocked down and another pre-fab section added as an afterthought. Everything was painted the same, drab tan, but some walls had fresher looking coats of paint than others. 

Eli had been right in deducing the compound was abandoned. The daylight filtering through the grimy windows was fading fast, and flipping the switch by the entryway to the common space did nothing. In the waning light, Eli could see that the room appeared to have been ransacked, though hastily. There was a wall of cabinets along the back wall, some of the doors hanging haphazardly off their hinges, but Eli could spy some boxes and crates still tucked away in them. There was a scattering of tables and chairs around the room, and a kitchen station in one corner. On the counter sat a pot of caff, half-full with a mug sitting next to it. A thin layer of dust coated everything, and Eli grimaced when he caught the stench of the rancid caff as he deposited Thrawn next to one of the more comfortable looking chairs.

“So, uh…” Eli stammered, unsure how to ask if Thrawn was okay, or what he should do. Aside from the attack at the Academy, Eli had never seen Thrawn injured. “What do you think?” He asked lamely.

“My movement will be hindered while the wounds heal,” Thrawn said, leaning against the chair and gently pulling the torn fabric of his trousers aside to examine his injuries. “My apologies, Ensign,” he added softly.

“What’re you apoligizin’ for?” Eli asked, frowning. “If you hadn’t noticed that thing, I’d probably be dead right now.”

“Perhaps,” Thrawn said, turning his gaze to Eli thoughtfully. “Though you were the one to deal the killing blow.”

Eli shrugged. “Guess we’re square, then.”

“I will be unable to help you search the compound.” Thrawn pointed out, as though determined to convince Eli he was somehow at fault for this mess.

Again, Eli shrugged, not giving an inch. “Not like there’s much to find. This place is pretty obviously empty. I’ll scope it out while you comm the _ Blood Crow_.”

“We should have confirmation of that before I contact Captain Rossi,” Thrawn said, a dark edge to his tone. “She will not send a shuttle until we have completed our mission.”

Eli scowled, but Thrawn was right. “Then in that case, I’ll start with the generators outside. I don’t fancy searchin’ this place with the lights off, and it’ll be easier to get them goin’ with the rest of the daylight on my side.” Eli ran a hand through his hair, still scowling. It was damp with muck and sweat, and he vaguely wondered if there was a ‘fresher somewhere in the building. “Though it might not be worth it if Rossi can send someone to pick us up here before it gets much darker.”

“I doubt that will happen,” Thrawn said, turning and rifling through his bag. “Even if she sent a shuttle when I request it, it would still be several hours before it arrives. Do you have the medkit?”

“Yeah, hang on.” Eli pulled his own carrybag off his back and set it on a table. He struggled with the sealing strip for a moment, the swamp-muck seeming to have glued it together, before he finally got it open and swore under his breath.

“Kriff,” Eli said, turning the bag upside down and dumping the contents onto the table. All of their supplies were coated in mud and slime, probably from when he had tumbled into the swamp earlier in the day. Some of their supply containers had burst, probably from being crushed underneath him, and the medkit had cracked open. “I dunno if this is still safe to use,” Eli said, pulling the medkit out and setting it aside. It was inundated with debris, the rolls of gauze useless and several packets of bacta having been punctured by the plastic shards of the kit. “Pain meds are still sealed, though, and it looks like the antibiotics are still good.”

“I will not need the pain medication,” Thrawn said, peering at the kit from his seat. Eli noticed him eyeing the shears, and he wondered if he should offer to help Thrawn cut away the torn trousers. “I will make do with what is there. Go see to the generators before night falls.” He held out his blaster to Eli, who shook his head. 

“Keep it. I’ve got mine, and it’d be silly to leave you without one incase something comes creepin’ in here.” Even if Thrawn’s order was a thinly veiled denial of assistance, he wasn’t going to leave Thrawn even worse off by taking away his one defensive weapon.

Thrawn nodded, holstering the blaster. “I am less likely to need it than you, though I do not anticipate you needing to defend yourself now that the fu’ceh’wah is dead.”

“Right.” Eli shook his head, feeling a wry grin rise to his lips. That was Thrawn, always confident. “I’ll be right back.”

Eli took a circuitous route through the building to find a backdoor, so as to avoid the corpse of the fu’ceh’wah. Thankfully, the floor plan was fairly simple despite the slapdash manner of the added sections, and he was outside in minutes. It took even less time than Eli anticipated to get the generators running - apparently they had been intentionally disconnected from the building, and even though the outer panels had rusted clean through in some spot, the innards were still fairly well protected from the elements. After a quick rerouting around some corroded connections, they hummed to life, and Eli saw several lights come on through the windows of the compound. 

He was glad it didn’t take long to get them working, despite remaining unaccosted as he worked on the machines. He couldn’t help feeling jumpy as night fell. The sounds of the swamp, which he hadn’t noticed before, had become loud and vaguely threatening. However, as he thought on it while he sealed up the final panel, the fact that there were sounds emanating from the tree line was a good thing. When the fu’ceh’wah had appeared, he realized the swamp had been completely silent. All the other wildlife had likely hunkered down to hide from the beast, and he took heart in the strange calls and chirps he heard. 

If they were going to spend the night in this swamp, he might as well get used to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence warning - Thrawn is attacked by a swamp monster and gets two nasty cuts in his leg. Eli takes out said swamp monster by shooting it in the eye.


	2. Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All aboard the trope-train! Choo choo!
> 
> No new violence in this chapter, but Eli does tend to Thrawn's wounds at one point, and blood is mentioned as well. No end notes for this one.
> 
> I try to temper that with large amounts of Thrawn's ass. Enjoy!
> 
> Also, if you don't know what zip-stitches are, look them up! They're neat little non-invasive wound closure devices made of adhesive and plastic. Super futuristic!

Eli did a quick search of the building once he got the generators running again, flipping on lights and relishing the fact that the air circulation systems were working. The dank, abandoned-building smell was beginning to fade, and even though finding nothing of note meant this whole mission was pointless, he was heartened by the fact that he had been right in the first place. 

He was practically overjoyed to find a working refresher as well, and had to stop himself from ripping off his ruined uniform and throwing himself in the shower. He had already been gone from Thrawn for quite a while, and cleaning up could wait. In fact, it might be better to get Thrawn to the ‘fresher first, since he had wounds that needed cleaning. 

Eli returned to the common area, rather pleased with himself for his minor accomplishments, and paused in the doorway, heart again leaping into his throat.

Thankfully though, for an entirely different reason than before. 

Thrawn was standing - no, more like leaning - against the kitchen-station counter, his back to Eli, busy with the running water in the sink in front of him.

He was naked. 

Eli realized he was staring and shook his head, clamping his eyes shut and feeling his cheeks burn. “Uh, Sir?” He asked, giving a dry cough to announce his presence. 

“Apologies, Ensign,” Thrawn said over the sound of the sink water. Eli swore he could hear a tinge of chagrin in Thrawn’s voice, and felt his cheeks burn even further. “I had hoped to be finished before you returned. One moment.” 

Eli waited, rooted to the spot, while Thrawn finished… whatever he was doing at the sink. After a few seconds, the water turned off, and Eli heard the sounds of dripping and some shuffling. 

“Thank you Ensign. You may open your eyes.”

Eli frowned, and opened his eyes a fraction to find Thrawn still working at the sink, though he had now tied his tunic around his waist, draping it sideways to cover his… important parts, while still leaving his wounds exposed. Okay, that he could deal with - he and Thrawn had shared quarters since they were roommates at Royal Imperial, and he had seen Thrawn change in front of him plenty of times. 

He could still feel his cheeks warm, though. He usually had a bit of warning before he saw the Chiss unclothed. 

“What are you doing?” Eli asked, ignoring his embarrassment best he could and crossing to the sink. Thrawn’s wounds were undressed, though Eli could tell Thrawn had done some basic care on them - that patch of skin appeared cleaner than the rest of him. Eli could see that the rest of Thrawn was still covered in mud from their trek in the swamp though, and he grimaced. That was bad news for the open wounds if any of the sludge made it back into them. In fact, they were still _ bleeding_, though slowly. Eli sighed. Could Thrawn really not sit still long enough to let himself recover, even for an hour? “And shouldn’t you still be, you know… Fixin’ those cuts?”

“I did what I could with what was left of the medkit, and now I am cleaning my uniform.” Thrawn said, turning the sink on again and wringing his trousers underneath the stream. “I comm’d the _Blood Crow_ while you were working on the generators; Captain Rossi won’t send a shuttle until morning, and I will admit I was growing weary of the smell.”

“Do I want to hear her bad reasonin’ for waitin’ so long?” Eli grumbled as Thrawn finished with his trousers and set to work on his socks. 

“No.” Thrawn said simply, and Eli snorted. “If you will give me your uniform, I will wash it as well.”

Eli frowned, his question about why Thrawn had comm’d Rossi before Eli confirmed their solitude dying in his throat. “Shouldn't we-- you, finish patchin’ up your leg first?” He said, not moving. 

“As I have stated, I have done what I can with what remained of the medkit,” Thrawn said, now with a hint of annoyance in his tone. “However, I had difficulty with the wound near the back of my thigh, as I cannot fully inspect it due to its position. I would appreciate if you would examine it, though I believe I have cleaned it well enough. I will need assistance applying the zip-stitches.”

Eli continued to frown. “Well, I found a ‘fresher with a shower in one of the other rooms. You should probably hop in there, wash all this crap off.”

Thrawn shot him a look. “Is the water safe? This building appears to have been disused for some time, and exposing my wounds to unclean water could cause additional complications. I have already used what was left of the disinfectant.”

Eli studied him shrewdly. When he’d pulled the small bottle from the ruined medkit, there wasn’t much in there. “Was it enough for both cuts?”

Thrawn shot him another terse look. “It was enough for the deepest sections. As I said, I was not able to fully tend to the one near the back of my thigh.”

“Then the shower can’t be any worse than what’s already in them, what with how gross you are from the swamp. Sir.” Eli added, trying not to sound disrespectful.

Thrawn cocked a brow, a wry smile on his lips, and Eli chuckled again. “Sorry, Sir. Lemme dig around; maybe they left a medkit behind or somethin’.”

Thrawn nodded. “Your uniform,” he insisted. “I will wash it while you search.”

“Alright, hang on.” Eli shot another concerned look at Thrawn’s thigh, but he didn’t bother arguing despite how uncomfortable he felt letting his superior officer do his laundry, wounded or not. He probably stunk to high-heaven; plus, he knew Thrawn hated sitting around doing nothing. If he couldn’t help Eli search for supplies, he would find something else to keep himself busy, and if that meant playing maid, Eli would indulge him. 

Once he passed his tunic, trousers, and socks to Thrawn, Eli did his best to ignore the slight chill as he began to dig through the cabinets. He had debated putting his boots back on, but decided against it when he thought about how ridiculous he would look in just boots and underwear. Even though the floor was dusty, there wasn’t anything around that could hurt his feet. 

Besides, walking around barefoot made it seem less… awkward. Eli was reminded of a time a few months back when the climate control systems on the _ Blood Crow _ had glitched out, sending batches of corridors and quarters without air conditioning for a few days. Of course, he and Thrawn’s quarters had been one of the last to be repaired, and they had gotten in the habit of lounging in their underwear to weather the oppressive heat. This was similar to that - they hadn’t worn boots in their quarters, and Thrawn had tied his tunic securely enough. Reminding himself that he had practice in ignoring Thrawn’s perfect, nearly-naked form was very helpful now, and Eli managed to keep his blushing to a minimum as he finished his search of the cabinets. 

“No way,” Eli muttered to himself as he cleared out the last cabinet. “This can’t really be…?”

“What is it?” Thrawn asked from the sink.

“Why they would leave this behind, I don’t know,” Eli said, straightening up and holding out two of the unopened bottles he had found to Thrawn. “Maybe they just took what they could carry. But check it out,” Eli grinned, holding one bottle up higher. “Port in a Storm.”

Thrawn arched a brow, and Eli goggled. “You ain’t never heard of Port in a Storm?” 

“I have not. I presume it is some sort of alcohol?”

“Yeah, it is.” Eli walked to the sink, handing one bottle to Thrawn. “Legendary sort of whiskey made on Pamarthe. Made and exported solely from that planet; it’s strong enough to strip carbon-scorin’ from engine turbines.”

“Why are you so pleased to have found this?” Thrawn asked, eyeing the bottle with mild apprehension.

“Because it’s _ amazin’_,” Eli breathed, taking the bottle back and shooting Thrawn a scornful look. “Almost like a rite of passage for folks where I’m from. Burns like fire, straight to your toes and tastes like you fought a supernova and _ won_. You can handle your Port in a Storm, you can handle anything.” Eli chuckled. “My ma gave me my first taste of it when I first started flyin’ for our shipping company and managed to sneak us by a bunch of pirates staked out around our drop off. Pa was _ livid _ when he found out, but she stuck to her guns and said I’d earned it.” 

“I’m sure you did,” Thrawn said, turning back to the sink and rising Eli’s tunic. “You did not find a medkit?”

“No,” Eli said, his elation from finding the whiskey dampening slightly. “But I haven’t searched the rest of the building yet. Might still get lucky. You know, though…” Eli trailed off, eyeing the whiskey again. “Even if we don’t find one, you should still take a shower, and we’ll disinfect your wounds with this afterwards. It’ll burn like hell, but it’ll be better than nothin’ and hold you over until we get you to the medbay.”

Thrawn nodded thoughtfully. “Continue your search; I am almost finished here.”

Eli gave Thrawn’s leg another appraising look, and shook his head. “You’re starting to bleed on the floor,” he said sternly, ignoring Thrawn’s reproachful glare. “My uniform can wait; let’s get you in the shower. I can look for a medkit while you get cleaned up.”

Thrawn continued to glare at him, and Eli met it dagger for dagger. It was part of his job as an aide to make Thrawn’s life easier, and right now, that meant making sure Thrawn took care of himself. Thrawn could be as cranky as he wanted, but Eli was putting his foot down. 

Thrawn seemed to realize that Eli wasn’t going to budge on this. Still looking reproachful, turned off the sink and faced Eli. “Lead the way.”

Eli wordlessly moved next to Thrawn, waiting for the taller Chiss to use him for support, but Thrawn didn’t move. Eli glanced up at him, confused. 

“I do not need your assistance,” Thrawn said, and to Eli’s disbelief, he took a small hop forward on his uninjured leg, tunic flapping dangerously. Eli wondered exactly what he did with his underwear, and what his plan for re-dressing himself was, but he pushed the thought aside as Thrawn spoke again. “This will suffice.”

“No.” Eli said, stepping forward as well and ducking under Thrawn’s arm. “You are not jumpin’ around this place like some kid playin’ hopscotch. Come on.”

“This is unnecessary,” Thrawn grumbled, though he finally accepted Eli’s help and wrapped an arm over his shoulders. 

“It’d be exactly what we need, you tryin’ to hop down the hall and fallin’ over and me havin’ to pick you up again,” Eli said, trying to keep his tone light to cover his annoyance. Thrawn was many things, and unfortunately, _ proud _ was one of them. “Not to mention your tunic would probably come undone in the process. Do it as a favor to me, alright?”

Thrawn didn’t speak on it further as they made their halting way to the ‘fresher, and Eli had a feeling he was biting his tongue. Fine. Let him be mad. Just now, Eli cared less about Thrawn’s mood than he did about Thrawn’s overall health, and if Thrawn wasn’t going to take care of himself, then Eli would. 

“Right, if you need help, just holler for me,” Eli said once he had helped Thrawn over the short step into the small shower. “Otherwise, I’ll be back with either a medkit or the whiskey. If we have to do the whiskey, might as well do it over the drain in here.”

Thrawn nodded curtly, still not speaking as he turned away from Eli and began to untie his tunic. Eli beat a hasty retreat and suppressed a sigh once he had safely absconded to the hallway.

Eli found himself doing that a few more times as he searched the rest of the compound for a medkit - every empty cabinet, drawer, and locker made him feel just a bit more downtrodden. He did find some linens and blankets in what looked like a combined office and living quarters, which had a small bed shoved up against one wall. That was good; at least one of them wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor.

After giving the kitchen one last sweep, Eli suppressed a final sigh and grabbed one of the bottles of Port in a Storm, as well as the tweezers and zip-stitches from the medkit. Steeling himself, he headed back to the ‘fresher. 

The water was still running, and Eli knocked on the door hesitantly. He hadn’t heard the sound of Thrawn falling in the shower, though his search for a medkit had taken him to the other side of the building. But a muffled _“come in”_ came a few seconds later, and Eli found Thrawn still under the stream, awkwardly twisted at the waist as he attempted to clean the wound near the back of his thigh. 

“Were you successful?” Thrawn asked, not looking at Eli as he entered. He appeared to be engrossed in his task.

“No,” Eli said glumly, suddenly finding the drab sink handles fascinating - anything to stare at besides Thrawn’s bare ass in front of him. “Sorry. I’ve got the whiskey here.”

“It will be better than nothing,” Thrawn said heavily. “I believe some of the fibers from my uniform are lodged in this wound, but I cannot tell for certain.”

“I’ll take a look,” Eli said, setting the bottle down on the sink and grabbing the tweezers, taking a deep breath. He paused as he made for the shower though, hesitant not from embarrassment, but from the realization at how filthy he was. If he had to go fishing around in Thrawn’s open wounds, the muck on his hands wouldn’t do the Chiss any favors.

“If you would hand me my tunic,” Thrawn cut into his thoughts, and Eli realized Thrawn must have noticed his discomfort at his state of undress. 

“Uh. Sure.” Eli said awkwardly, and he grabbed it from the hook next to the shower and passed it to Thrawn.

“I am covered,” Thrawn said after a moment, and Eli finally looked up at him. Thrawn wordlessly shuffled backwards in the shower, leaning heavily on one wall and gesturing for Eli to get under the stream. Eli’s brain froze before he worked out Thrawn’s logic - it would be pointless to help Thrawn out of the shower just so Eli could use it for a moment, then get Thrawn back in there to do the whiskey rinse.

“Sorry,” Eli mumbled, stepping into the cramped space. This was _ not _ how he had imagined (he refused to think the word _ ‘fantasized’_) showering with Thrawn. At least the shower itself was different enough from the one they shared on the _ Blood Crow _ to dissuade his mind from wandering down that embarrassing path. The tiles were a different color, the water pressure was wrong, and this one was thankfully larger. 

And Eli still had his underwear on, too. 

“I appreciate your willingness to assist me in this,” Thrawn said mildly. If Thrawn thought the situation was awkward, it didn’t show in his tone, and Eli doubled down on his mental resolve. 

“What sort of aide would I be if I didn’t?” Eli asked, scrubbing his scalp vigorously. The water ran a disgusting shade of brown, and Eli did his best to avoid splashing Thrawn with any stray droplets. That’s all this was, he thought to himself. Just an ensign helping his lieutenant in the line of duty. Sometimes the line of duty just went a little… funny, is all. 

Thrawn chuckled. “I do not believe this is included in your job description.”

Eli shot him a reproachful look. “You really think I’d just let you carry on like that when there’s somethin’ I could do about it?” He asked, silently cursing the Chiss. Of course Thrawn would contradict a line of reasoning Eli hadn’t even voiced.

Thrawn shrugged. “I do not wish to unduly burden you.”

Eli rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. If Thrawn _ really _ wanted that, he wouldn’t have wrenched Eli off his career path years previously. But Eli had (mostly) come to terms with that, and had since moved on. This was his life now, and it wasn’t all that bad. 

Particularly if it meant sharing a shower with Thrawn, even if the circumstances weren’t what he wished they could be.

“Alright,” Eli said, giving himself a final once-over and deciding he was as clean as he was going to get. He angled the shower-head to spray against the opposite wall and faced Thrawn. “What part do you need help with?”

“Here,” Thrawn said, shuffling to the side and tugging his tunic back slightly. “If I were more flexible, it would not be an issue.”

“You’d have to be real bendy to be able to get to this one,” Eli said as he crouched down, ignoring how his stomach churned as he peered at the wound. “Though it looks like you’ve done okay so far…” Eli trailed off, hesitantly raising a hand to the injury. “Alright if I touch you?” He asked, glancing up at Thrawn.

“Of course.” 

Eli nodded and brought his hand to Thrawn’s thigh, gently pulling the skin back to more fully examine the cut. The muscle twitched as Eli moved it, but Thrawn remained silent. “Sorry,” He muttered. “You were right about some debris still bein’ stuck in there. This is probably gonna be uncomfortable.”

“Do what you need to.” Thrawn said, sounding a bit resigned. 

“Right. Sorry…” Eli apologized again, positioning the tweezers in his hand. The shower had rinsed away most of the blood and other nasties, but some clotting had already occurred deeper within the cut, and Eli could make out a few stray fibers of grey fabric caught in the clots. 

It was a tense few minutes as Eli cautiously worked the debris out, doing his best to keep his hand steady against the occasional twitch of muscle, or worse, the small hisses of pain from Thrawn. Eli could only imagine how it felt, having someone poke around your flesh with a piece of metal, and he tried to be as gentle as possible. He made sure to be thorough, though - anything left behind would be sure to cause an infection. 

He kept up a steady stream of apologies and encouragement as he went, mostly to fill the silence as he worked. Thrawn didn’t say anything apart from the short, occasional hitching of breath, but Eli didn’t blame him. At one point, he thought to ask if his chatter was annoying, but he decided against it. Thrawn would have asked for quiet if it bothered him. 

“Alright,” Eli said, finally straightening. “Think I got everything. We’ll do a final rinse with the water, then the whiskey, then I’ll slap those stitches on.”

“Thank you,” Thrawn said, straightening a bit as Eli angled the spray toward his leg again. 

“Don’t thank me yet; that whiskey ain’t gonna be fun.” Eli said as he crouched back down, checking for anything he might have missed as he irrigated the wound. For good measure, he examined the other wound as well, but found that Thrawn seemed to have done a perfect job with that one.

“Its application is necessary, and again, you do not have to do this,” Thrawn said softly from above him. 

Eli shrugged by way of reply. They’d already been over this, and at this point, the only thing Eli could think to say - that of course he’d do this for Thrawn, because he cared about him way, way more than he honestly should - would not be productive.

“Alright.” Eli turned off the spray and leaned out of the shower to snag the whiskey from the sink, mindful of slipping on the wet floor. He popped the seal on the bottle and tossed the cap aside. He had decided to use the whole thing for the sake of thoroughness, so resealing it wouldn’t be necessary. He paused as he crouched back down, though, and looked up at Thrawn. “Want a swing of this before I start? It’ll distract you, that’s for sure.”

Thrawn arched a brow, and for one infinitesimal, fleeting moment, Eli’s mind immediately flew to the uncouth thoughts he’d had before, of Thrawn giving him that look while Eli knelt in front of him, on a shower floor different from this one, or on the drab carpet in their quarters, or on the cold steel of the bridge-- _ stop that! _ He screamed internally. Not here. Not now. Not ever. 

“You said there was more than one bottle?” Thrawn asked, thankfully not seeming to notice Eli’s mental turmoil.

“Yeah, at least half a dozen in that cabinet alone. I saw some other bottles in another one, but I didn’t check to see what sort of alcohol they were.” Eli said hurriedly, forcing his mind back on track. 

“Then perhaps we may share some once we are finished with this,” Thrawn said, nodding to his leg. “You have certainly, as your mother said, earned it.”

Eli chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t say no to that,” he muttered, turning back to Thrawn’s thigh. “Deep breath in, now. It’s gonna sting.”

Eli gave a quiet countdown before he began pouring the whiskey over the wounds, dousing them in as swift a flow he could muster to encourage any more bits of debris to run free. Thrawn hissed as the alcohol seeped into the wounds, but didn’t speak as Eli finished the uncomfortable task. 

“Still bleedin’ a bit, but runnin’ clean otherwise,” Eli said once the bottle was empty. “The stitches should help with that.”

Thrawn nodded, and Eli leaned out of the shower again to grab the few clean zip-stitches that had survived his fall. He honestly would have liked to have a few more - each self-contained plastic stitch was only a few inches long, and the two gashes ran nearly the length of Thrawn’s thigh. But if he was careful with his placement, they would do the job well enough. 

Eli remained silent as he carefully placed each adhesive stitch, positioning the little open rectangles over the cuts then tightening the plastic fasteners together until the wounds closed. If Thrawn kept his leg relaxed for most of the night, hopefully his body would seal up the parts of the wounds the stitches didn’t cover. After the attack at Royal Imperial, Eli had noticed Thrawn seemed to heal slightly faster than humans, and that would certainly work to his advantage now. 

Eli had finished the wound near the back of Thrawn’s thigh and shuffled on his knees to begin working on the second when Thrawn stopped him. 

“I can take care of that one,” Thrawn said, holding his hand out for the zip-stitches. 

Eli shrugged. “I’m already down here, and they’re a bit tricky to work if you aren’t at the right angle. Just lemme do it.”

Thrawn gazed at him for a moment longer, then nodded. “Very well.”

Eli repeated the process on the second wound, replaying that little exchange in his mind. It was clear Thrawn didn’t want to 'unduly burden him', as he had said earlier, and honestly, Eli’s excuse about the stitches wasn’t really true. But… it felt _ nice _ to be able to help Thrawn, for once. For Thrawn to let him help, even if he didn’t really need it. And apart from being proud, Thrawn could also be incredibly stubborn. 

Maybe Thrawn could tell Eli wasn’t doing this just because he felt it was his duty. 

Eli gave himself a little mental shake at that (how often had he done that today?). There were several reasons Thrawn could have acquiesced to Eli’s response. It was more efficient than trading off, and maybe Thrawn hadn’t used the zip-stitches before, and didn’t know Eli was fudging the truth about how difficult they were to use. Maybe Thrawn was tired from walking in the swamp all day and fighting off the fuh’ceh’wah and hobbling around afterwards; Eli certainly would be. 

Or maybe, Thrawn was just being polite, and didn’t really care one way or the other. 

In any case, Eli knew he was completely overthinking the matter, and again forced his mind to other things. Once they had finished patching Thrawn up, they needed to get him dressed again, which Eli was pretty sure he’d need help with as well, even if Thrawn wouldn’t ask for it. They should probably try to move the fuh’ceh’wah’s corpse from the main entrance before any other annoying creatures snuck in or it began to stink, and after that, they could get a head start on their reports for Captain Rossi. They should probably eat something, too.

Yes. Eli had plenty of other things to think about besides Thrawn’s bare thigh beneath his palms, or his barely-covered crotch inches from his face, or the sliver of his ass peeking out from under the tunic.

“All set,” Eli said once he had finished the last stitch. “Back to the common area?”

“I think so, yes.” Thrawn said, pushing himself off the wall. “Though sitting would be difficult. You did not perhaps find a couch somewhere else in the building?”

Eli shook his head, mind going to the small bunk he had discovered in the office. “Not a couch, no. But there’s a bed in one of the offices, and I found some sheets for it. It’d be better than the floor.”

Thrawn frowned, and Eli could tell he hated the idea of lying around in a bed. But lying down on the floor in the common area would entail Eli helping him up and down if he needed to move, and Eli knew Thrawn found that equally distasteful. 

Finally, Thrawn gave a curt nod. “You are correct,” he said shortly, and this time he didn’t protest as Eli moved next to him. Together, they hobbled down the hall to the office. Now that Thrawn seemed to have accepted the fact that he did indeed need Eli’s assistance, his mood seemed a bit lighter, and Eli allowed himself to feel a little pleased. Despite the mission itself being a complete waste of time, Eli had acquitted himself well today. Marching through a swamp, taking down a massive beast intent on eating them, getting the generators running, and patching up Thrawn were all things High Command would see as evidence that he was ready for his promotion to lieutenant. Stars knew it was more than time for him to get promoted - maybe this would finally push him over that edge. 

“If you would bring me our clothing and my carrybag, I can begin mending our uniforms.” Thrawn said once Eli had deposited him next to the bed. 

“Sure,” Eli said, running a hand through his hair. It felt good to be clean again, that was for sure. “Will you need help getting dressed?”

“No,” Thrawn said, and to Eli surprise, none of the coolness he had expected was present in Thrawn’s tone. “I cut my trousers and underwear in such a fashion that I will be able to put them back on unassisted, and sew them shut.”

“Nice,” Eli said, impressed at Thrawn’s foresight. He certainly wouldn’t have done that. “You brought a sewing kit?”

“Of course,” Thrawn said, giving him a little smile. “It is small, and always useful. I also found some holes in your uniform that I can mend as well.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Eli said, but Thrawn cut him off. 

“Nonsense. It is the least I can do, as thanks for your assistance today.”

Eli frowned, but didn’t say anything as he nodded and turned for the common area. While it was clear Thrawn had finally accepted Eli’s help, it was also clear Thrawn was still frustrated by the hindrance caused by his injury. It was a small gesture, offering to fix Eli’s uniform, but Eli knew the Chiss well enough to understand where it was coming from. 

Eli wondered if Thrawn was always so concerned for Eli’s well-being in that manner. If Thrawn noticed the slights Rossi flung at him specifically because of Thrawn, or had noticed High Command’s ignorance of his promotional merits. 

If he really cared that he had vaulted Eli off his chosen career path into one with almost zero opportunity for meaningful advancement. 

Eli shook his head. If Thrawn cared, things would work themselves out. And if he didn’t… there was nothing Eli could do about it, except wait. 

Maybe Eli only noticed Thrawn’s care for his well-being in this situation because it wasn’t strictly professional - after all, Thrawn had said Eli’s actions weren’t necessarily included in his job description as an aide. Maybe Thrawn had an idea of how Eli felt about him, and wanted to keep his distance. Maybe he wanted to keep the score as even as possible, so when the time came for them to part, he wouldn’t feel indebted to Eli on a personal level.

That was probably it. Thrawn always played the long game. Eli knew him well enough to know that. 

It was with a bit of reckless abandon that Eli grabbed another bottle of Port in a Storm from the cupboard to take back to the office along with their uniforms and the carrybag. Today had been a wild ride, and as Thrawn said, he had certainly earned his swig of the whiskey. Not that getting drunk in an abandoned smuggler compound with his superior officer was a good idea. But then again, Thrawn said the only dangerous animal around was the fuh’ceh’wah, and any smuggler worth their salt would have noticed the _ Blood Crow _ sneaking around. 

No, Eli thought as he returned to the office, handing Thrawn the clothing and his bag and plunking the whiskey down on the desk, tonight was probably going to be very quiet and very boring. 

“Here,” Thrawn said, pulling a skein of rope out of his bag and passing it to Eli. “This should make removal of the fuh’ceh’wah easier.”

“Thanks,” Eli said, accepting the rope, unsurprised that Thrawn had some on hand. It seemed Eli had a thing or two to learn about packing for groundside missions. 

“Take this as well; I can mend it when you return.” Thrawn handed Eli his uniform. 

Eli nodded, and he felt Thrawn’s gaze linger on him. 

“Is everything alright?” Thrawn asked. 

Eli paused, wondering if he should voice his questions over Thrawn’s behavior. But he knew it probably wouldn’t end well, so he bit his tongue. 

“Yeah. Just tired, is all.” He said, giving Thrawn a small smile. “Been a long day.”

“That it has,” Thrawn agreed, adjusting himself more comfortably on the bed. He had been lying on his side, so as not to put pressure on his wounds, and Eli was reminded of the odd ways he would sometimes lounge in his too-small bunk back at Royal Imperial. He would often insist Eli take the desk and chair to do his homework, stating he was fine with the bed.

Eli wondered if that had been true, or Thrawn’s way of apologizing for landing him in that academy in the first place. 

“Again, I apologize for my inability to assist with the beast’s removal,” Thrawn said, cutting into his thoughts. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Eli said shortly, and he turned and left the room, uniform in hand before Thrawn could speak again. He hurriedly changed in the common area, hating both the uncomfortable feel of the damp, clammy of the fabric on his skin, and how his thoughts wouldn’t behave. Was Thrawn _ trying _ to make Eli second-guess and overanalyze everything? Why couldn’t Eli just ignore the kriffing lieutenant and do his job? Why did he constantly wonder if Thrawn actually _ cared _ for him?

Scowling, Eli headed to the entrance, shivering at the draft wafting through the building from the open door. He supposed he hadn’t noticed it earlier, due to Thrawn having been all but draped over him as they hobbled around. But when he reached the entrance hallway, he stopped dead in his tracks.

The fuh'ceh'wah was gone. 


	3. Night, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally this was supposed to be one big chunk, but I think it works a bit better this way.
> 
> Unfortunately, it does mean waiting one more chapter for the smut. I'm sorry. I'm churning these out as I finished editing them, so it should be up sometime sunday!!
> 
> This is where the violence tag is earned - see the end of the chapter for explanation!

The fuh'ceh'wah was gone. 

_ Okay, okay, stay calm_, Eli told himself, taking a deep breath. Maybe it was just a trick of the light - the beast was completely black, after all. But as he made his way forward, willing his eyes to parse the darkness beyond the doorway, he realized his eyes had not deceived him. The doorway was empty.

Taking another deep breath, Eli searched for a reason for the fuh'ceh'wah’s disappearance. Maybe… Maybe another animal had carried it away, the hunter becoming the hunted. But as the thought crossed his mind, he knew that wasn’t right. Thrawn had said the scent of the beast would keep other predators away, since it was the biggest, nastiest one around. Eli had never known Thrawn to be wrong about such plainly stated facts. Maybe some sort of insect swarm had come in, and picked the corpse clean and carried the bones off? They hadn’t seen any sort of hordes during their trek through the swamp, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. 

Eli crept forward, looking for a sign that something else had taken the beast away. But as he edged closer to the empty doorway, his blood ran cold. 

There were two pools of blood on the floor near the door - one from Thrawn’s wounds, and a larger, darker one from the blaster-bolt to the fuh’ceh’wah’s skull Eli had delivered. 

Both pools had little trails of droplets leading away from the door down the hallway. 

Eli resisted the urge to whirl around, knowing if the beast was creeping up on him, he was already done for. But if the fuh’ceh’wah was elsewhere in the building, Eli had a chance to survive if he remained as quiet as possible and got back to Thrawn. 

Eli cautiously turned around, and found the hallway deserted. That was good - at least he wasn’t about to immediately be eaten. Crouching down, eyes darting all around him and ears pricked for any hint of the beast, he untied and removed his boots. He hadn’t put his still-wet socks back on, and he knew he could move about more quietly without the bulky footwear. 

Setting his boots and the length of rope aside, his eyes found the trail of blood left by the fuh'ceh'wah, and he was struck with an idea. He had his blaster on him; perhaps he could follow the trail and find the beast, and finish it off? Surely it couldn’t survive getting shot in the head _ again_. At the very least, he could disable it long enough for he and Thrawn to come up with a more solid plan to survive the night. 

Making up his mind, Eli tugged his blaster from his holster and began to follow the trail of darker blood spatters down the hall. They appeared to be fresher than Thrawn’s, only recently having dried, and Eli guessed the creature had awoken while he and Thrawn were in the shower. As he walked, he kept his ears pricked for any sound, but part of him knew that was probably pointless. If he hadn’t heard the massive thing when he was getting their clothes from the common room, or when he was getting dressed, it meant the beast had either hunkered down somewhere, or was just as silent on the duracrete floor as the soft mud outside. Both options made him queasy.

Eli paused at an intersection that would take him either down to the office where Thrawn was, or off to the side in one of the newer pre-fab sections. The blood spatter led off to the newer section, but his first instinct was to go to Thrawn. Yet as he thought on that, he realized it made more sense to track down the beast first. The doorway to the office was the same size as the main entrance, so the fuh’ceh’wah wouldn’t be able to creep up on Thrawn without Thrawn noticing it. Eli had deposited Thrawn’s belt next to him on the bed, so Thrawn would have time to draw his blaster and fire, which would alert Eli to the beast and give them a better chance of taking it out, since he would be coming up behind it. The bed was also along the wall opposite the door, which was out of the creature’s reach. 

Eli reasoned that if he went to Thrawn now, it would give the fuh'ceh'wah more time to recover and hide more effectively. Plus, it wasn’t like Thrawn could really _ do _ anything to help Eli in his hunt. Eli could put Thrawn on alert, but with the Chiss stuck in the bed, that was about it. 

No, his best bet was to find the beast, disable it, then go get Thrawn. 

Steeling himself, Eli drew a silent breath then set off along the blood spatter trail. The droplets were spaced further apart now, but Eli couldn’t tell if that was because the fuh'ceh'wah’s bleeding was slowing, or if it had picked up the pace as it made its way down the hall. 

He shuddered as the trail led past the ‘fresher door, trying his best not to think about it creeping by while he had been on his knees in front of Thrawn. 

Eli silently thanked his past self for leaving the lights on in each room he had searched earlier. His mother had always griped at him for his habit of forgetting to turn lights off at home when he left a room, but the bad habit was serving him well now. He cleared every room with a doorway wide enough for the beast as he walked by, blaster held ready and finger set on the trigger, but found nothing as he continued down the hall. 

As he neared the end of the pre-fab section to the next hallway intersection, one that branched off into two large storage areas, he felt his heart sink. 

The blood trail ended in the middle of the hallway, with no indication of which direction the fuh'ceh'wah might have headed. 

Eli held his breath, willing his ears to hear something, _ anything _ that might hint at where the beast was, when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He did his best to ignore the hollow in the pit of his stomach as he carefully turned around, still not breathing, expecting to see the gaping maw of the fuh'ceh'wah right behind him, ready to pounce and devour him. 

The hallway was empty. 

Eli resisted the urge to swear, frustration boiling in his gut. He was wasting time, getting spooked at nothing! Baring his teeth in a silent snarl, willing himself not to give sound to his anger, he made to turn back around and pick a room at random to search when something caught his eye. 

It was a shadow at the edge of his vision, just like the one he had first noticed outside the compound. It flickered for a moment, then seemed to disappear around the corner of the short hallway that led to the office.

Eli stared. Could the shadow have been the fuh'ceh'wah? How could it have gotten _ behind _ him? How had he not seen it in any of the rooms he had just cleared? 

And why had it not come for him?

Eli tried to tell himself that he was jumpy, that he was imagining things. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the shadow was indeed the beast. Maybe there had been a hidden recess he had missed, or perhaps it had clung to the ceiling of one of the rooms and he just hadn’t looked properly. But he couldn’t ignore the way the hair on the back of his neck had stood up a moment ago, just like it had when Thrawn had tasked him with cutting the vines on the door. 

Resolutely making up his mind, Eli headed back down the way he came, moving as silently and as quickly as he could. He held his blaster high in front of him, focusing on his breathing as he neared the intersection. He still heard nothing as he approached, and he slowed as he neared the corner, debating the best way to round it. If he went quickly, he might--

_ “Eli!” _

His heart stopped as he heard Thrawn’s bellowed summons, and Eli flung himself around the corner as the sound of Thrawn’s blaster echoed down the hall and the horrible, piercing screech of the fuh'ceh'wah joined the cacophony.

“I’m here!” Eli hollered, heart now pounding in his chest as he rounded the corner to find the fuh’ceh’wah at the door to the office, its head and one clawed limb inside as it struggled to force its way through. Eli could hear the sounds of Thrawn’s blaster bolts glancing off the beast into the walls, and the discordant scraping of the creature’s claws on the duracrete floor. 

“Get away from him!” Eli bellowed over the tumult, squeezing off a handful of bolts to get the fuh'ceh'wah’s attention. The screech crescendoed as the beast pulled its head from the office, and Eli again met its hateful stare. 

“I said get away!” Eli yelled, taking a step forward, and to his complete and utter shock, the fuh'ceh'wah actually _ recoiled _ from him. 

Stunned, Eli popped off a few more shots, aiming for the beast’s remaining eye and missing terribly, but the fuh'ceh'wah still shrank further away from him, its screech becoming an odd barking cackle as it continued to back away from the door and down the hallway. Its black eye never left Eli, head swaying back and forth to compensate for its loss of binocular vision as it took another step back. 

Its head had just become level with the doorway as Eli drew a deep breath, trying to find the calm he had used earlier to aim his supposed-kill-shot, when there was an odd whistling sound, then a solid _ thunk. _

Eli’s mouth fell open as he saw the hilt of Thrawn’s vibroblade protruding from the fuh'ceh'wah’s ruined eye socket. 

The fuh'ceh'wah let out an odd whine as it shuddered, then fell on its side, limbs twitching and curling spasmodically, and for a moment, all Eli could do was stare at the beast in front of him. Then he came to his senses and raised his blaster again, taking a final deep breath and delivering another shot to its remaining eye. As soon as the bolt struck, it collapsed completely and lay still. 

“I believe it has a decentralized nervous system,” Thrawn called from the office. Eli was still in shock from the whole incident, but he didn’t miss the urgency in Thrawn’s tone. “Remove my blade and remove its head from its body.”

“Wh-What?” Eli stuttered, rooted to the spot. “You want me to _ what _ now?” He called back.

“Quickly, before it recovers,” Thrawn answered. “Use the blade to remove the head. Disabling its limbs would also be prudent, should it somehow survive decapitation.”

“I- I--”

“Now, Ensign!” Thrawn snapped, and his forceful tone seemed to snap Eli out of his shock. 

“Right, got it!” Eli holstered his blaster and rushed forward, forcing the bile rising in his throat down. He could be sick later - right now, he had orders. 

Eli crouched down next to the fuh'ceh'wah’s massive head and wrapped both hands around the hilt of the vibroblade. He pulled as hard as he could, but the hilt remained lodged in the beast’s skull.

“Turning the blade on will make it easier to remove,” Thrawn called, and Eli couldn’t help the sick grin rising to his lips. Of course Thrawn would know exactly what sort of problem he was having.

Feeling the blade hum beneath his palms as he keyed it on, Eli gave another massive tug and it finally came free. To his relief, the fuh'ceh'wah didn’t move as he pulled the blade out, and Eli hoped the creature was finally dead from the second blaster bolt to the eye. Or at least, completely unconscious. 

He couldn’t figure out which was true, death or unconsciousness, as he set about his grisly task, but he was grateful that the beast remained unmoving as he cut through skin, muscle, and finally bone. He did his best to ignore the blood pooling at his knees as he carefully moved the head away from the body, then shuffled over to make a few choice cuts in the fuh'ceh'wah’s legs. Even if the body could still somehow come alive, some new, fresh horror propelling it to hunt again, it now wouldn’t be able to walk.

Finished, Eli deactivated the blade and slumped back against the wall. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, Eli could feel the bile rising in his throat again, sick at what he had needed to do to the beast. There was no other way, he told himself. With Rossi abandoning them for the night and Thrawn unable to walk, they wouldn’t be able to flee from the creature. If it somehow survived losing both eyes and came for them again, Eli had no idea how they would have stopped it, since there were no more eyes to shoot. In fact, if after his impromptu surgery it _ still _ remained alive, Eli was at a total loss for what they would do. At that point, it would just be suffering. 

“It should not survive the blood loss,” Thrawn said quietly, and Eli nearly jumped out of his skin. Thrawn had made his way to the doorway, balancing on his good leg and leaning against it as he peered down at Eli. “Should it somehow manage to function without blood, a feat I highly doubt it capable of, a shot to an exposed nerve should overload its nervous system and render it… unconscious, again. From there, we would need to begin removing vital--”

“I got it.” Eli said, cutting Thrawn off. He didn’t need to hear the details. “I… Yeah.” 

Thrawn peered at him a moment longer, then turned and hopped back into the office. Eli watched him go, wondering what the Chiss was doing, but finding it difficult to care much. All he could think about was the slain beast in front of him, hoping, praying that it was truly dead. 

After a few moments, Thrawn reappeared, still hopping along on one leg. In his hands were the unopened bottle of Port in a Storm, and his sewing kit. Eli vaguely noticed he was back in his underwear now, the side seam half-sewn shut and mostly held up by his belt, which also held his blaster. He carefully hopped around the fuh'ceh'wah, making his way over to Eli. Once there, Thrawn wordlessly passed the bottle and sewing kit to Eli, then used his hands to brace himself as he carefully slid down the wall to sit next to him. 

Once he arranged himself so he wasn’t putting pressure on his wounds, Thrawn held out a hand to Eli. Eli made to pass him the sewing kit, but Thrawn shook his head.

“The Port, please.”

Eli grunted, and handed over the bottle. Thrawn took it, turning it over in his hands as he examined his label. 

“You said your mother first gave you some of this after you defeated a band of pirates.” Thrawn said after a moment. 

Eli nodded, a slight frown on his face. “Not defeated, no. I just snuck us around them. We didn’t fire a shot.”

Thrawn turned to look at him. “You misunderstand. The pirate’s goal, their intent, was to rob and possibly murder you. Your goal was to deliver your cargo safely. You were the victors in that situation. You had no mandate to capture and stop them, as we do now on the _ Bloodcrow_.”

“I guess,” Eli said with a shrug. “Either way, Ma was happy.”

“I do not doubt that. Not all battles are waged with blasters or turbolasers, or are a struggle between good and evil,” Thrawn said, nodding at the fuh'ceh'wah. “I believe that is why are you so distressed now.”

“I’m not distressed,” Eli said reflexively. “I’m just…” His mind went to his excuse for his earlier mental turmoil. “Just tired.”

Thrawn nodded slowly. “The fuh'ceh'wah was not an evil creature,” he said softly, not speaking to Eli’s disagreement. “It was merely a hunter, intent on eating and thus continuing its life. It was simple misfortune that it chose us for its prey. We are not evil either,” Thrawn said, turning his piercing gaze to Eli, “For choosing to defend ourselves against death.”

Eli thought on that for a moment, trying to figure out why he was so unsettled. Thrawn was right, of course. They couldn’t just ask the beast to leave them alone. But then he realized what was bothering him.

“It… It had started to back away from me.” Eli said slowly. “When it saw me. It wanted to get away. And earlier, in the hall, when I was lookin’ for it. It had to have seen me, there’s no way it could have missed me. But it didn’t try to get me. It… It snuck by me, somehow. It went to you.”

“I believe it has some sort of adaptive camouflage it may choose to use,” Thrawn said. “It is not perfect - you noticed a shadow of it outside, and something alerted you to it before I called for you. You responded too quickly to my summons to have not been tracking it.”

Eli nodded. “Yeah. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye at the end of the pre-fab hallway, and I got goosebumps when it was behind me. Guess my subconscious noticed it too.”

“All prey animals have unconscious reflexes to being hunted,” Thrawn said, and Eli grimaced at the description of humans as ‘prey’. But Thrawn was right. Conscious or not, Eli knew it was there. 

“How’d you see it then? Outside, I mean?” Eli asked.

Thrawn merely smiled, and Eli rolled his eyes. “Infrared. Right.”

“Very good,” Thrawn said, and Eli couldn’t help but feel a warm tendril of pride curl inside him. Even after this nightmare, it still felt nice to be told he did something right. But the warm sensation drifted away as he again thought on the fuh'ceh'wah’s seeming retreat.

“But if I’m supposed to be the prey, why did it back away from me when I showed up just now?” Eli asked.

Thrawn cocked his head. “I think perhaps it no longer viewed you as prey, but as another hunter,” he said thoughtfully. “You were the one to disable it earlier. It likely remembered that, and sought to avoid you as a threat.”

“Seems pretty intelligent. You think it's capable of that sort of reasoning?” Eli asked, frowning.

“I do,” Thrawn said. “It is a cunning hunter. It would not be so successful if it did not understand the nature of such things. Remember, it is a solitary, territorial beast. It must identify threats to its domain, and either eliminate them, or flee.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Eli said. “Good throw, with your vibroblade.”

“Thank you,” Thrawn said. “I did not anticipate needing it in such a fashion, but it has proved to be quite useful today.” Thrawn trailed off in a manner unlike his usual speech patterns, and Eli glanced at him sharply. What had he been about to say?

“I must again apologize for my inability to assist today,” Thrawn said formally, and Eli saw him straighten up at bit on the wall. “And also for my slip in decorum, earlier.”

“What slip?” Eli asked, ignoring Thrawn’s apology. He was beginning to get tired of hearing it. 

“I called for you by your given name, when the beast appeared.”

Eli frowned, thinking back, and he realized Thrawn had indeed called him by his first name. Not ensign, not Vanto. He called him Eli.

“I… You don’t need to apologize for that?” Eli said, shaking his head in disbelief. “No offense Sir, but we are currently sitting in a bloody hallway in front of a dismembered monster, you without a shirt or pants. Earlier, we took a shower together, and again, no offense, but I’ve seen your ass _ twice _ today,” Eli said, a shaky laugh starting to rise in his throat. “Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind it at all if you considered us at ease enough to use first names at this point.”

Thrawn gave a little snort and threw him a small smile. “Very well, Eli.” He held up the bottle of whiskey again. “I think we have perhaps earned such, today.”

“We sure have, _ Thrawn_,” Eli said, leaning on the Chiss’s given name. It was the first time Eli had used it to his face in such a fashion, and it felt oddly… natural. Comfortable. “Now, as much as I would like to crack into that whiskey, I think we should probably wait to make sure that thing’s really dead,” he said, nodding to the fuh'ceh'wah.

“A reasonable plan,” Thrawn said, setting the whiskey down. “If you would give me your tunic and the sewing kit, I can get started on mending some of the tears.”

Eli shook his head as he passed Thrawn the kit. “Finish your underwear first,” he said with a wry smile. “I don’t know if I could handle seein’ your ass a third time today.”

Thrawn shot him a curious look, one brow arched and a decidedly _ knowing _ smile on his lips, and Eli quickly looked away, cursing his choice of words and willing himself not to blush. 

“Perhaps it would be prudent to take the head outside,” Thrawn said after a few minutes of quiet sitting, he working on his underwear. “To dissuade any other creatures from investigating the compound.”

Eli sighed. The same thought had occurred to him, but he hadn’t voiced it because he didn’t particularly want to drag the fuh'ceh'wah’s head down the hall. But Thrawn was right, as usual.

“Yeah. Lemme go grab the rope you gave me, and my boots.” Eli shuffled to his feet. “You gonna be okay if it wakes up?”

“I have identified several points that should disable it, should that occur,” Thrawn said, nodding to his blaster. “Go. I will be fine.”

“Alright. Holler if you need me.” Eli padded back to the main entrance, ears pricked for any other nasties that might have crept in while they had been busy with the fuh'ceh'wah. But he heard and saw nothing as he made his way through the building, and he knew the lingering scent of the fuh'ceh'wah was still working in their favor.

Thrawn pointed out the best points to tie the rope around the fuh'ceh'wah’s skull when Eli returned, and he made quick work of dragging the thing outside. The swamp was alive with calls and chirps of local fauna, and the night was beautifully clear. Eli paused for a moment outside, gazing up at the stars. In the back of his mind, he wondered if he would see a shadow fly overhead, another fuh’ceh’wah coming to claim the territory of the fallen. But no such shadows appeared and, satisfied they were safe, Eli headed back inside. 

Eli dragged a cabinet from the common area to brace the entry door closed - the door didn’t sit correctly in the broken frame, and he didn’t want to just leave it open all night. After that, Eli did another search of the compound, to further satisfy himself that nothing else had snuck in the open door. Thankfully, he discovered nothing untoward, and he finally found himself relaxed. 

“Anything?” Eli asked, nodding at what was left of the fuh'ceh'wah as he returned to Thrawn.

“Nothing,” Thrawn said. He had finished with his underwear, and had been peering thoughtfully at the remains of the beast. His blaster was still in his holster. “We should wait another half hour to be sure, but I believe it is finally dead.”

“Thank the stars,” Eli said, sitting down next to Thrawn and handing him a ration bar he had found in the kitchen. 

Thrawn turned to Eli, and Eli caught his glance down to his torn sleeve. “Alright, alright, hang on,” Eli said, anticipating Thrawn’s request for his tunic. “Here, so you don’t get bored.”

Thrawn gave him a pointed look as Eli shucked his tunic and passed it to him, but it relaxed into his usual small smile as he accepted the garment. “You know me well, Eli.”

Eli snorted. “No I don’t. But I know you well _ enough_.” And that was true, Eli thought. He didn’t know Thrawn well enough to completely understand him, and he doubted anyone ever would. But he did know Thrawn well enough to be comfortable calling him by his given name, and to sit next to him quietly while eating his ration bar. 

Eli didn’t know him well enough to understand why Thrawn did the things he did. He didn’t know his true motivations for offering Eli his blaster, or washing and mending his uniform, or coming to sit quietly by him after Eli killed the fuh'ceh'wah and try to help him work out his distress over the matter. Eli knew that’s what that had been, that conversation Thrawn started about his mother and the Port in a Storm, leading to Thrawn quieting Eli’s soul over the beast’s death. Thrawn always seemed to be able to read Eli, to predict what he was going to do or what he was thinking. And for whatever reason, Thrawn seemed to care enough about that to try and soothe what he could.

Earlier in the evening, that had caused Eli a lot of mental turmoil. But now, Eli found himself unbothered by it. Whether that was because he was tired, and didn’t have the emotional resources to devote to it, or because he had finally just accepted Thrawn’s behavior, he didn’t know. The fact of the matter was that he was stuck with Thrawn, for better or for worse. Whether or not Thrawn would ever feel the same about Eli as he did for him didn’t really matter. 

For now, sitting quietly in the hallway and listening to the gentle rustle of Thrawn working on his tunic was enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thrawn throws his vibroblade into the fuh'ceh'wah's eye socket, and Eli shoots it in the eye again as well. Eli has to remove the fuh'ceh'wah's head with Thrawn's vibroblade to make sure it stays dead, as well as disable its legs with the blade. Several mentions of blood.


	4. Night, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIME FOR SMUT
> 
> No violence in this chapter, lol.

“I believe we have waited long enough,” Thrawn said after a while, breaking the comfortable silence and cutting into Eli’s musings. Eli’s mind had drifted to his report for Rossi, and where their next hunt for smugglers and pirates would take them. Hopefully someplace with less swamps and predators. 

“Yeah,” Eli agreed, leaning forward and stretching. “Want help getting up?”

“Please.” Thrawn said, setting his work aside. Eli got in front of him again and pulled forward as he had in the entryway. 

“Let’s get you to the bed, then I’ll come back for the stuff.” Eli said, automatically taking his place under Thrawn’s arm. 

Thrawn went along with the motion, but didn’t miss his chance to protest. “You have seen me move on my own,” he said as they worked their way around the fuh'ceh'wah back into the office. 

“Maybe I just like helpin’ you,” Eli said with a chuckle. He didn’t voice how he didn’t mind the sensation of Thrawn’s arm over his shoulders, or his chiseled torso leaning against his. 

“Regardless, I appreciate you.” Thrawn said quietly, and Eli didn’t miss the way Thrawn had worded that statement. Normally, Thrawn would say he appreciated the assistance or the action, not that he appreciated _ Eli. _

“I uh… I appreciate you too, Thrawn.” He said awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. “You really saved our asses outside earlier.”

Thrawn didn’t reply as Eli helped him to the bed, and Eli turned around to get the whiskey and sewing kit without speaking. If Thrawn wanted to go into more detail about that, he would. 

When Eli reentered the office, he found Thrawn lying on his side, head propped up by one arm, and he couldn’t stifle the chuckle that rose to his lips. Clad only in his underwear, Thrawn looked like some sort of model. 

“What is so amusing?” Thrawn asked as Eli handed him the sewing kit and tunic, still giggling. 

“Nothin’,” Eli said, trying and failing to stop laughing. “You just-- Nothing. The way you’re lyin’ down is making me laugh, is all.”

Thrawn arched a brow, but didn’t say anything as Eli held up the whiskey. “Mind if we crack this open?”

“Of course,” Thrawn said, adjusting a pillow under him to more fully support his torso. “But you should give me your trousers first. Interesting though it would be to watch you attempt to remove them while inebriated, it could result in injury.”

“Hey, I ain’t plannin’ on getting _ that _ drunk,” Eli said, mock-offended. “And besides, you haven’t seen me drunk before. For all you know, I could be very steady on my feet.”

“Perhaps,” Thrawn said with a chuckle. “Regardless. Your trousers.”

“Yeah, yeah, hang on.” Eli set the bottle down and began undoing his belt when he was suddenly stricken with a flush of embarrassment. Undressing in front of Thrawn, who was lying almost-naked on the bed behind him was a thought he had _ definitely _ had before. And despite the reason for his getting undressed, Eli couldn’t help but feel like the moment was strangely… intimate. Yes, he was just giving his trousers to Thrawn so Thrawn could busy himself for the evening, but the joking atmosphere wasn’t helping. Changing in front of each other in their quarters or the locker room was one thing, but Eli couldn’t help but feel that this was somehow different. 

“Are you alright?” Thrawn asked from behind him, and Eli realized he had frozen with his hands at his waist.

“I-- Yeah,” Eli stuttered, hurriedly undoing his belt and fly. “Sorry.” He quickly pulled his trousers off and tossed them to Thrawn on the bed. He didn’t want to walk over and risk Thrawn noticing his blush. 

Thrawn eyed him for a moment before returning to the tunic in his hands, and Eli thanked the stars Thrawn didn’t press him on it. 

“Been years since I’ve had this stuff,” Eli said, plopping himself down in the desk chair and opening the bottle of Port in a Storm. A drift of its spicy aroma wafted towards him as he did so, and he couldn’t help but smile. He remembered his first sip of the whiskey, elated that his mother was letting him try it, and how he had sputtered and coughed as tears welled in his eyes as he got used to the burn. He remembered his father’s shock when his mother told him about it, how he had been angry that she let a sixteen year old boy drink on their ship. He remembered how his mother, so short and slight compared to his father, seemed to puff herself up as she pointed an angry finger at him and extolled Eli’s skills as a pilot, and how well he had done that day. They hadn’t known he had been peeking around the corner of the dining room, watching them argue. 

_ “If he’s old enough to risk getting murdered by a bunch of pirates, he’s old enough to drink his reward for saving us!” _ His mother had said fiercely, and Eli had the feeling this was an old argument between them - when would Eli be old enough, strong enough, smart enough, to start making his way in the world? Should he fly for the family company, or seek bigger and better things? 

Eli still didn’t know if he was any bigger or stronger or smarter than he was when he was sixteen - half the time, he still felt like he had no idea what he was doing with his life. Some things remained unchanged, it seemed. After a long day and narrowly escaping death, he had earned his sip of Port in a Storm. 

As he raised the bottle to his lips, he remembered Thrawn, and paused. “Do you care if I put my lips on this?” Eli asked, gesturing to the bottle. “I didn’t find any cups in the kitchen.”

“I do not mind,” Thrawn said. “If you do not mind that I do the same.”

“Not at all,” Eli said, and he knocked back a swig. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as it went down, both hating and _ relishing _ the burn. There was nothing like it in the universe, he thought as he waited for it to subside, feeling his belly warm and the fire seep into his bones. He curled and flexed his toes, feeling his skin tingle as his hair stood on end. Nothing like it at all. 

He opened his eyes to find Thrawn watching him with interest. “Wanna try?” Eli said with a grin, holding out the bottle. 

“Yes,” Thrawn said immediately, sitting more upright in the bed. “I was not expecting such a reaction.”

“You’ll understand in a moment,” Eli said, getting up and handing Thrawn the bottle. Thrawn sniffed it delicately, opening his mouth to better inhale the spicy scent as he did so, and Eli chuckled again. Thrawn really was something else.

Thrawn arched a brow, and Eli continued to chuckle. “Go on, then. Tell me what you think.”

Thrawn hesitated for just a moment, then took a tentative sip of the whiskey. Eli saw his eyes widen just a fraction as he swallowed, and heard him take a slightly sharper breath. 

“Remarkable,” Thrawn said, holding the bottle out in front of him and eyeing it with renewed interest. “My people have a very similar drink. I had not thought I would discover something like it in the Empire.”

“Really?” Eli asked. He hadn’t expected that. “Huh. It’s really one of a kind. Or at least, I thought it was.”

“There are some notable differences,” Thrawn said, and to Eli’s surprise, he took another sip. “This has a much lower alcohol content.”

Eli stared at him. He hadn’t even considered how alcohol might affect Thrawn. “What’s a Chiss’s alcohol tolerance like?” He asked, stepping forward and taking the bottle as Thrawn handed it back to him. 

“Higher than a human’s, it would seem.” Thrawn said conversationally. “I have not been affected by alcohol in my time in the Empire, though I will admit I have not tried to become inebriated.”

“Yeah, I can’t picture you goin’ out for drinks at a bar,” Eli said with a chuckle. “But if anything’ll get you drunk, this will.” Eli set the bottle down on the desk as he resumed his seat. “I’m gonna wait and see how I feel before I have anymore; I dunno how hard it’s going to hit me what with all the excitement of today.”

“A reasonable plan,” Thrawn said. “Though I will admit I am interested to see how you behave while inebriated.”

Eli laughed. “I’m sure you are. I hate to disappoint, but it isn’t that interesting.”

“I would have to disagree,” Thrawn said, and Eli was surprised by the note of seriousness in his tone. “I think you are very interesting, Eli.”

Eli felt his breath catch in his throat. There it was again, Thrawn addressing Eli directly, rather than the situation. Thrawn’s explanations for gathering information about the Empire - its art, its politics, its people - always seemed to tend towards a greater scheme or ideal. But here he was, specifically directing his interest towards Eli. 

Eli grabbed the bottle and took another swig. If Thrawn was going to go down that road and Eli said something stupid, he wanted an excuse for it. 

“Might as well keep you entertained, since you’re stuck in that bed until Rossi gets us,” Eli said, explaining away his sudden reach for the bottle. 

“You are stuck in here with me,” Thrawn said, holding out his hand expectantly.“It would be rude of me to not return the favor.”

Eli laughed. Was this really how his night was going to go? Getting drunk half-naked with Thrawn?

Well. When he put it that way, it didn’t sound half-bad. 

“Are you gonna be able to properly study me when you’re drunk too?” Eli asked, getting up and passing him the bottle again. Rather than stand awkwardly next to the bed, Eli lowered himself to the floor and leaned against it. If he and Thrawn were going to be passing the bottle back and forth, it didn’t make sense to keep getting up. 

“May I remind you that you have not seen me drunk either?” Thrawn said, that characteristic confidence in his tone. 

“Well then, I guess we’re both going to do a lot of learnin’ tonight,” Eli said, already feeling the whiskey loosening his words. 

“Indeed.” Thrawn said, leaning over and placing the bottle on the ground next to Eli. Eli caught a hint of the whiskey on Thrawn’s breath as Thrawn leaned close to him, and he resisted the urge to turn and kiss him right then and there. 

Okay, he was _ definitely _ feeling the whiskey. But that wasn’t surprising. Of course it would hit him hard after the day he just had. He could handle it, he told himself. No more sips for a while. 

“I would like to hear more about how you evaded those pirates,” Thrawn said as he again picked up Eli’s tunic and set to work on it. 

“Oh, well that’s a great story, that one,” Eli said, launching into the tale. Telling stories to Thrawn was a familiar routine between them, one he could relax comfortably into. He resisted the urge to embellish it, as he so often had when telling it to his friends back home - they wouldn’t appreciate some of the more subtle things Eli had to do to sneak around the pirates, like knowing how some sensors on the company ship tended to read high or low, or how he’d needed to calculate drive emissions on the fly. 

But he knew Thrawn would. 

Thrawn listened intently to the story, asking pertinent questions here and there, and Eli was pleased the Chiss seemed entertained by it. When he finished, Thrawn immediately launched into a similar story of his own, though Eli could tell he was leaving out details about the Chiss and the Ascendancy that he didn’t feel safe exposing. But Eli didn’t mind - the tale was interesting enough without them, and Eli was pleased Thrawn was finally starting to open up more fully about his life before the Empire. 

They talked like that for some time, trading stories with one another, laughing and commiserating over past triumphs and failures, occasionally passing the bottle back and forth.

“And after that, they left me alone,” Thrawn said, wrapping up a story about a fight he had gotten into in his youth. 

“That can’t be true!” Eli said, shaking with laughter. “Five against one? I’ll take a sip against that.” He held up the bottle accusingly, and Thrawn grinned. 

“I have the scar to prove it, though I am not sure you want to see it.” He said, a wicked grin on his face.

“Oh yeah? And why not? You expect me to believe you took on five other people, three of whom had knives, when you had nothing?”

“I mean that you would not want to see the scar itself,” Thrawn said, still grinning. There was a fire in his eyes, one Eli hadn’t seen before, and he wondered if it was from the few additional sips of whiskey Thrawn had taken as they chatted. “You said earlier you didn’t know if you could handle seeing my ass for a third time today.”

Eli’s eyes went wide. “No,” he breathed, again shaking with laughter. “You did not get stabbed in the ass.”

“I did,” Thrawn insisted. “But if you do not believe me, by all means.” He nodded at the whiskey. 

“Nuh-uh,” Eli said sitting forward and shuffling around. “I gotta see this. Really? In the ass?”

“More to one side of the glute, to be precise,” Thrawn said. “But in order to show you the scar, you will indeed see my ass for a third time today.”

“I can handle it,” Eli said firmly, holding out the whiskey to Thrawn. “I ain’t drinking because you’re tryin’ to call me a chicken. Besides, you’ve got a nice ass--” Eli froze, clamping his mouth shut. _ Did I really just say that! _ He screamed internally, eyes going wide. 

But if Thrawn noticed the horror on his face, he didn’t say anything, and instead accepted the bottle and took a sip, albeit a small one. “If you say so,” Thrawn said, and he set the bottle down before rolling carefully onto his stomach and tugging down the side of his underwear. “I was not lying.”

Eli swallowed hard. There was indeed a small scar gracing the side of Thrawn’s perfectly rounded, toned, _ amazing-- _

“Yup, okay, got it!” Eli squeaked. Unthinking, he reached for the bottle again. _ If I’m drunk, I have an excuse for complimenting his ass_, he desperately reasoned, praying that Thrawn would never, ever, ever address that comment. 

“You have a nice ass as well,” Thrawn said, rolling back onto his side, and Eli nearly spit out the sip he had just taken. 

“Uh, thanks?” He sputtered, completely at a loss for words. Was Thrawn drunk? Did Thrawn just compliment his ass? What was going on?

Thrawn had to be drunk. There was no other explanation. His words and motions were as steady as ever, but Thrawn would _ never _ speak to Eli like that. 

“You are most welcome,” Thrawn continued, head cocked and peering at Eli thoughtfully. “I had not seen many humans in my time before the Empire, but even when I first saw you, I thought that you were better looking than most.”

Eli’s mouth fell open, cheeks flushed from both the whiskey and from the compliment Thrawn had just given him. 

“Even now that I have met many, many humans in my time with the Empire,” Thrawn went on, completely ignoring Eli’s shocked expression, “I find that you are one of the most attractive beings I have encountered. Though I believe that my opinion of a person’s beauty may be influenced by my opinion of their character.” He said, as casually as if he were discussing the weather. “Take Captain Rossi, for instance. While she is certainly a fit and conventionally attractive woman, her personality leaves much to be desired. You are a perfect counter example, both physically and spiritually beautiful.” Thrawn finished decisively. 

Eli’s mouth continued to fall further open, at a complete loss for words. Had Thrawn just called him _ beautiful? _

Eli knew he should say something, respond to Thrawn’s statement somehow, but his mind refused to function as he gazed at Thrawn. Thrawn gazed back, that odd fire still in his eyes, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. But then a shadow of a frown crossed Thrawn’s face, and he broke the silence. 

“My apologies, Ensign,” Thrawn said stiffly, and Eli frowned. “That was improper of me. I understand that you do not feel the same way, and I'm sorry if I--”

“Thrawn. Shut up.” Eli whispered, cutting Thrawn off, frozen mind finally making a decision on how to respond. He took one last, tiny swig of the Port, then set the bottle to the side as he got to his knees and closed the distance between them. “I’m sick of you apologizin’ left and right today,” he said, leaning up against the bed, meeting Thrawn’s piercing gaze and placing his hands on Thrawn’s shoulders to steady himself - he had been lying to Thrawn earlier, he was _ not _ steady on his feet when he was drunk, but that didn’t matter now, not as Thrawn brought a hand up to steady him, leaving it resting on his arm. 

“If you’re gonna be improper, then I’m gonna be improper too.” Eli finished firmly, and he closed the distance between them and kissed Thrawn full on the mouth. 

Or at least, he tried to. The angle was awkward, what with Thrawn lying sideways on the bed and Eli kneeling next to him on the floor. Eli missed, catching the side of Thrawn’s lips, and he felt the Chiss smile against him as he brought one hand to cup the side of Eli’s face and gently bring him more fully on target. 

“You are drunk, Eli,” Thrawn said after a moment, breaking the kiss and leaning back to peer at him, silent mirth in his eyes. 

“Yeah, and I reckon you are too,” Eli said with a grin. “So let’s be as improper as we want, and if we wake up in the mornin’ and decide this was a bad idea, we have a good excuse.”

“Well reasoned,” Thrawn said, and he leaned forward and pulled Eli back to him, catching him in another deep, breathless kiss. 

Eli had always assumed his mind would be racing if he ever actually kissed Thrawn - he’d always imagined it would be some rushed, hurried thing, something they would do quickly for fear of being discovered, a thrill of exhilaration flooding through him at the idea of doing something so _ forbidden_, kissing his superior officer, kissing _ Thrawn. _

But as he leaned into the kiss now, letting Thrawn pull him closer and moving his hands to tangle in the Chiss’s hair, his mind was wonderfully blank. He let himself get lost in the sensations of it, in the simple joy of the moment. The feel of Thrawn’s sharp cheekbone beneath his thumb, of Thrawn’s large hand cupping the back of his neck, the flutter in his stomach as Thrawn pressed closer, the kiss turning rougher, _ hungrier _the longer it went on. 

Some vague part of him, in the back of his mind, was surprised how natural it felt when Thrawn scooted further away from the edge of the bed, tugging Eli into it alongside him. He clumsily followed Thrawn’s guiding hand, mindful of his injures, and relished how neatly they slotted together. How easily their hands set about exploring each other's bodies, how quickly their kisses fell into a languid rhythm as though they had done this hundreds of times before. 

And what a tantalizing rhythm it was. Not rushed, not hurried in the slightest, but with each kiss promising just a hint of _ more_, of a destination to be had, one they would take their time getting to, but would certainly arrive at before the night ended. They sank deeper into one another, becoming breathless as one kiss faded into the next.

Eli became aware of a heat pooling in his belly, one that had been quietly simmering and was suddenly set ablaze by Thrawn’s fingers lazily trailing down his back and dipping below his waistband to cup his ass. Eli gasped at the sensation, and suddenly his mind was racing with ideas, with possibilities. Thrawn’s grasp brought him back to a firm reality, a realization of exactly what they were _ doing _ \- Thrawn’s hands on him, one tugging Eli’s hips flush against Thrawn’s own while the other snaked into his hair, grabbing and canting his neck back as Thrawn whispered sweet nothings in his ear in a language Eli didn’t understand. Thrawn’s hot breath on his neck and his own faint whimpers as Thrawn peppered his skin with reverent kisses. Eli’s own hands exploring Thrawn’s perfect body, tracing curves and mapping the scars he found, making little mental notes when Thrawn gasped or hissed beneath him. 

All of that, and a realization that they both knew exactly where they wanted this night to go. And of course Thrawn knew what he was thinking, pulling back from Eli to gaze at him, that quiet fire still simmering behind his eyes. 

It was just a moment - it couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds - but to Eli it felt like a medium-sized eternity as they locked gazes, holding a silent, yet completely understandable conversation. Did they want to continue? To take this moment farther? To start down a path neither of them could see the end of?

Eli almost laughed at how plain the answer was, his own affirmation mirrored in Thrawn’s burning gaze.

Unfortunately, their enthusiasm was tempered when Thrawn pushed Eli back into the thin pillows and made to straddle his hips, hissing in pain as he moved his injured leg. 

“You alright?” Eli asked, sitting up and watching Thrawn closely.

“Yes,” Thrawn replied, rolling back onto his uninjured side. “I merely… forgot.” Thrawn made a thoughtful sound as he peered down at his leg a moment longer, then turned to look at Eli. “If you would sit up some, and move back against the wall.”

“Uh, sure.” Eli said, frowning a bit but shuffling backwards nonetheless. “We don’t… You know. This is fine. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I won’t.” Thrawn said, lips curling in a mischievous grin. Eli blushed and smiled in return, a shiver running up his back as he reclined against the wall. Something about Thrawn’s smile told Eli that something as silly as foot-long gashes in his thigh wouldn’t stop the Chiss from doing what he wanted. 

And right now, there was no question what he wanted. 

“Comfortable?” Thrawn asked mildly, pulling himself to lounge on his uninjured side as he lazily trailed a hand up Eli’s stomach to his chest. 

“Very,” Eli sighed, melting under Thrawn’s touch. “You know though…” He sat up a little straighter, feeling a little daring. “I might be more comfortable without--”

“These?” Thrawn finished his statement for him, trailing his hand back down to Eli’s hips and hooking two fingers in his waistband. He politely arched a brow in question, and Eli nodded enthusiastically as he helped Thrawn pull the underwear off and tossed it aside. 

Thrawn hummed in appreciation as Eli reclined again against the thin pillows, using one hand to support himself as he ran the other up Eli’s bare thigh, leaning down and placing delicate, burning kisses along Eli’s stomach. Eli felt goosebumps appear at every place Thrawn touched, and he shivered as Thrawn slowly worked his way lower and lower towards his hard cock. 

_ “Stars,” _ Eli breathed as Thrawn reached his hips, lathing his tongue along the sensitive skin above his thigh, and Eli tangled a hand in Thrawn’s hair, stopping his progress. “Stars, Thrawn, that’s amazing, but…” He trailed off as Thrawn turned his burning gaze on him, a decidedly _ hungry _ look in his eyes. “I don’t-- I wanna--” Eli cut himself off, searching for the right words. “I don’t think I’d last too long, if you keep doin’ what I think you’re gonna do,” Eli said awkwardly, and Thrawn shot him a grin. 

“That is my plan,” Thrawn said, and he made to dip down again, but Eli stopped him. 

“I--” Eli swallowed. Why was this so hard to voice? “I would like it if we. You know. Finished together.” He let out a shaky laugh. “I’m worried I might fall asleep and not be able to return the favor. ‘Cause of the whiskey.”

“Ah,” Thrawn said, sitting up a bit more fully and gazing down at Eli thoughtfully. A few strands of his black hair had fallen in his face, and Eli wanted to reach forward and tuck them back into place, but he stopped himself. Thrawn looked good a little less… put together. Instead, he reached forward and trailed a thumb along one cheekbone, and Thrawn closed his eyes and leaned into the touch with a sigh. 

“I have an idea,” Thrawn said after a moment, opening his eyes again. He rolled onto his side and peered down at his newly-mended underwear. “I can repair these in the morning,” Thrawn said casually, and he reached down and tore the seam open. Eli caught his breath as Thrawn carefully pulled the fabric away from his wounds and partially down his uninjured thigh, then sat back up, balancing gracefully on his good leg. 

“If you would assist me,” Thrawn said, scooting closer to Eli on the bed. “Help me get my injured leg over your hips.”

“Absolutely,” Eli breathed, the matter-of-fact nature of Thrawn’s request a sharp contrast to the sheer impropriety of the Chiss now bare before him. Thrawn’s cock hung heavy between his legs, his sculpted body taught as Eli helped him get settled across his waist. 

“Thrawn, you’re amazing,” Eli muttered, pulling his eyes away from Thrawn’s body to gaze up at him. Thrawn settled more comfortably across Eli, deftly pulling one of Eli’s knees up to support his injured leg while the other folded neatly at his side. 

“As are you, Eli,” Thrawn said, leaning down to kiss him, and Eli returned the kiss greedily, open-mouthed and heavy. He ran his hands up Thrawn’s waist, circling around to his back and shoulders and down again, tugging him closer, wanting to feel them slotted together. He could feel Thrawn’s cock resting on his stomach against his own, and found that a gentle roll of his hips produced a delicious friction that sent them both gasping. 

Eli broke their kiss to dip down and lavish Thrawn’s neck and collarbone, nipping and sucking and leaving a trail of marks in his wake. He was mindful not to leave any too high to be visible beneath Thrawn’s uniform, and Thrawn seemed to melt at Eli’s touch, canting his head back and tangling his fingers in Eli’s hair with a soft sigh. 

“I want you,” Eli growled against Thrawn’s jaw, lowering a hand and grabbing a fistful of Thrawn’s ass and again rolling his hips against him. Thrawn shuddered, relaxing against Eli and raking his nails down Eli’s back, again sending goosebumps down his spine.

Thrawn’s hands were cool to the touch, a delicious counterpoint to the heat burning in Eli’s core, and he gasped as Thrawn deftly worked a hand between them, taking both of them in a gentle grip and slowly working his hand up and down. 

“Much though I enjoy this,” Thrawn growled in Eli’s ear, giving a little roll of his own hips. “I think you’ll find this even better.”

Coherent thought vanished from Eli’s mind as Thrawn turned the tables on him, dipping low and trailing kisses along Eli’s jaw as his picked up the pace between them. Eli tangled his hands in the Chiss’s hair, helplessly thrusting into Thrawn’s grip, lost in the sensations of Thrawn’s cock rubbing up against his own. 

“I want you to come, Eli,” Thrawn murmured against his neck, pulling a wanton moan from Eli as he circled his thumb over his swollen cockhead. “I want to see you come undone against me,” Thrawn moved to kiss Eli’s lips again, whispering a profane litany. “I want to feel you spend yourself between us, hear you cry out, feel you shudder beneath my hands.”

Eli couldn’t find the words to respond, feeling his muscles tightening in his belly as Thrawn worked him ever-higher, and it was with newfound desperation that he pulled Thrawn close, buried his face in the crook of Thrawn’s neck, wordless moans of pleasure escaping him as he rutted against Thrawn when finally, _ finally, _Thrawn sent him over the edge. 

Eli stiffened, clinging to Thrawn as though he was his only anchor against oblivion as his vision whited out and his orgasm took him. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed over him, and through all of it, he was vaguely aware of Thrawn crying out as well, nails driving into his back and hips stuttering against his until finally, after seemingly both forever and no time at all, the waves subsided.

Eli slumped against Thrawn, ignoring the mess between them as they curled closer to one another, and Thrawn worked his hand free to protectively tug Eli against his chest as they slumped to the side in a tangle of limbs. They both were trembling, shuddering with the occasional aftershock, panting as though they had both just run miles. Eli didn't know how long they laid there, limp and completely spent. All he knew was that he was warm and cocooned against Thrawn, safe and comfortable. His mind was blissfully empty, and the steady rhythm of Thrawn’s quiet breathing eventually lulled him to sleep. 


	5. Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done! Thank you for coming along this wild ride with me, it's been fun <3 Brief (mild) gore warning at the bottom!

“Eli.”

Eli scrunched his nose, giving a wordless grunt and burrowing deeper into the warm softness of the bed.

“Eli. You must wake up.”

“What?” Eli grumbled, mind bleary with sleep. He opened one eye to find Thrawn sitting up slightly, one arm still draped over him as he peered over Eli’s shoulder. 

“The fuh'ceh'wah. It is moving.”

Eli’s eyes snapped open, mental fog blown away in a wave of fear.  _ “What?” _ He breathed, struggling to sit up. 

“Calm,” Thrawn cautioned, voice low. “It does not appear to be coming for us.”

“What’s it doing?” Eli hissed, sitting still despite wanting to vault of bed and grab his blaster. 

There was a pause as Thrawn continued to gaze toward the door. “It appears to be making ready to crawl down the hallway.”

Eli frowned. “But I-- You saw me--!”

“Yes,” Thrawn said, cutting off Eli’s sputtering. “It should not be able to move its limbs.”

“Then how’s it doing that?” Eli whispered, blood running cold. 

Thrawn cocked his head to his side, seemingly lost in thought, and Eli nearly asked his question again when Thrawn spoke. “It must have regenerative properties. In my research of the planet, there were no records of a corpse of a fuh'ceh'wah having been found. When I realized its ability to hide itself from view, I perhaps thought that was why.” His voice dipped low. “It appears I was wrong.”

“What are we gonna do?” Eli asked. Was Thrawn saying it couldn’t be killed? If it was moving slowly, maybe it hadn’t completely recovered, and they could keep it at bay until their pick up arrived. “What time is it?”

“Nearly morning,” Thrawn said. “Our shuttle is due to arrive in approximately three hours.”

“Okay,” Eli said, moving again to sit up. “Let me go.”

“What is your plan?” Thrawn asked, tone sharp. He hadn’t taken his eyes from the fuh'ceh'wah, which Eli could now hear quietly scraping along the duracrete, but Eli knew there was reproach in Thrawn’s gaze. 

“I’m gonna get up, and get my blaster, and go see exactly what it’s doin’,” Eli said firmly. “If it’s still scared of me, I’ll chase it outside. And if it ain’t, well…” Eli shrugged. “It's movin’ slow. Hopefully it regrew an eye or two for me to shoot.”

Thrawn pursed his lips, then nodded and removed his arm from Eli’s torso. “Very well. If you would also hand me my blaster and vibroblade.”

“Sure.” Eli carefully rolled out of the bed and tugged his underwear on, then snagged their weapons from the desk. 

“What path do you intend for it to follow, should that option be available?” Thrawn asked, sitting up in the bed and accepting his blaster and blade. He was leaning to one side, mindful of his injured leg, but seemed to be in less pain than yesterday. It appeared Chiss did heal more quickly than humans.

Eli frowned, pursing his lips. “Well, out the front is the shortest distance, but I blocked that door with a cabinet. I’d have to turn my back on it to move the cabinet out of the way.”

“A dangerous proposition,” Thrawn said, and he stood up from the bed, putting his weight on his good leg. He glanced around for his clothing, and Eli handed him his tunic. “I will wait here while you assess it. If it indeed is still afraid of you, you will go ahead and unblock the entrance while I monitor its progress.” Thrawn said as he tied it around his waist.

“And if it isn’t afraid of me anymore?” Eli asked, working hard to keep his voice low in his frustration. “I don’t want it comin’ for you again.”

Thrawn raised his blaster. “The entire plan of ushering it out the front entrance hinges upon its fear of you. Otherwise, we will hope it has indeed regrown an eye. The two of us will provide better odds against it, regardless.”

Eli huffed. “I guess,” he conceded, turning for the door. The back half of the fuh'ceh'wah was visible through the doorway, its long, whip-like tail dragging along the ground. He carefully padded forward, blaster held ready, and felt his stomach churn as more of the beast came into view. 

Thrawn was right about it having ‘regenerative properties’. Eli could see that the areas he had cut in the fuh'ceh'wah’s legs, carefully placed incisions through tendons and muscle, were covered in newly puckered gray scar tissue. It moved clumsily, as though its freshly-healed limbs didn’t quite remember how to function. In fact, it looked as though it has lost all its muscle tone overnight, bones creating sharp angles through its leathery skin that hadn’t been there yesterday. But that wasn’t what had set Eli’s stomach flipping.

At the end of its long, serpentine neck, was the beginnings of a new head. 

It was a wretched, gruesome sight - unlike the rest of the beast, its new skull was a bloody, grayish-red, and almost comically small compared to the one Eli had previously removed. The beginnings of its cruel beak were present, glittering and sharp, but only as long as Eli’s hand. As Eli stepped more fully into the doorway, it turned its head as it clambered forward, and Eli could spy the beginnings of one black, beady eye amongst the sea of red.

Eli froze as the fuh'ceh'wah turned its new eye towards him, heart pounding in his chest. But as he watched, the eye widened in fear, and it opened its beak in the same shuddering cackle it had voiced when Eli confronted it the night before. It seemed its vocal cords were still too new to produce the hair-splitting shriek from before, but the guttural cackle set Eli’s teeth on edge regardless. 

He raised his blaster, finger tightening on the trigger, but as the fuh'ceh'wah continued to chitter and cackle, glittering eye still wide with fear, he stayed his hand.

“It’s still afraid of me,” Eli called over his shoulder to Thrawn. “It’s got a head, and at least one eye. But I don’t think it’s gonna attack. Come look.”

Eli heard Thrawn make his way over to the door, an odd combination of hopping and shuffling, and felt Thrawn lay a hand on his shoulder to steady himself. 

“Fascinating,” Thrawn breathed, and Eli could hear quiet reverence in his tone. “I have never encountered such a creature.”

“Me either,” Eli said dryly. “What do you think?”

“I have a theory.” Thrawn said, and his hand left Eli’s shoulder as he hopped through the doorway. 

When Thrawn appeared, the fuh'ceh'wah’s shuddering cackle grew louder, more frantic, and it tried to crawl away from the pair of them more quickly. 

“As I thought,” Thrawn said, turning to Eli and raising his vibroblade. “It is now afraid of me as well.”

“Ah,” Eli said, understanding Thrawn’s plan. “Okay, good. I’ll go ahead and get the door open. You good here?”

“Yes,” Thrawn said, turning back to the beast. His gaze seemed to soften as he looked at it, and Eli knew he was feeling the same as he was. 

Now that the creature no longer wanted to kill them, Eli felt a wave of pity and anger wash over him. He and Thrawn had no business being here in the first place - they knew from the start this mission was pointless. But Rossi, in her petty vindictiveness, sent them planetside anyway. They would have never encountered the fuh'ceh'wah if it wasn’t for her childish power-play, and the poor beast wouldn’t have had to suffer as it now was. He and Thrawn were the trespassers here, forced to defend themselves from a creature that had no choice but to hunt as nature intended it to. 

It made him sick. 

“I’ll be quick,” Eli promised, and he began to carefully edge around the fuh'ceh'wah. It cringed away from him as he approached, turning its new eye to watch him as he shuffled by, blaster still trained on it. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he passed. He knew it was pointless to talk to the beast, with it so clearly terrified of him. In fact, if for some bizarre reason it understood him, trying to alleviate its fear of him would be counterproductive to their whole plan. 

But he couldn’t help the apology that rose to his lips. It was a small penance, but the unjustness of the situation drove him to give voice to his regret. 

Once he had edged by the fuh'ceh'wah, Eli broke into a run towards the entrance. The front door was still closed, cabinet in place exactly as he had left it, and he quickly shoved it aside. He then pulled back and concealed himself inside the frame as the door opened, remembering he had placed the skull a few feet outside. A few tendrils of sunlight were snaking their way across the pre-dawn sky, and Eli could make out the shape of the head in the muddy grass of the path. Thankfully, it seemed the head hadn’t done any growing of its own - it was exactly as he had left it. 

Satisfied there were no other threats outside, Eli ran back to Thrawn and the fuh'ceh'wah. It had made good progress down the hall in his absence, with Thrawn shuffling along the wall behind it, blaster held ready. 

“What of its skull?” Thrawn asked him quietly as Eli again edged around the fuh'ceh'wah, wincing as it chittered in fear at his approach. 

“Right where I left it,” Eli said, taking his place besides Thrawn and training his blaster on the beast. It had stopped its forward crawl as Eli passed it, but as he raised his weapon, it chittered again and began creeping forward. “Doesn’t look like it regrew anything.”

“Interesting,” Thrawn said softly, still watching the fuh'ceh'wah as they proceeded down the hall like some sort of grisly parade. “It must take significant resources to regrow what it has lost. Notice its smaller stature.”

“Yeah,” Eli said. He edged more to the side of the beast, flanking it slightly and encouraging it to take the correct turn towards the entrance. “I figured that had something to do with it. You think it’s gonna be alright?”

“It would not have evolved such a skill if it were not useful,” Thrawn said. “The fact that it is already able to move with some speed after mere hours of recovery is a positive indicator.”

Eli nodded, but didn’t respond as they continued to usher it forward. Terrifying though the fuh'ceh'wah was, he didn’t want it to suffer anymore. He and Thrawn would be gone soon, and hopefully it would be able to make a full recovery and return to its normal life. 

“I wonder if this was why the smugglers left in the first place,” Eli said after a few minutes. They were mere feet from the door now, and the fuh'ceh'wah was moving a bit faster as it spied the route to freedom. Eli nodded back to the kitchen. “There was still caff in the mug back there.”

“Perhaps.” Thrawn said. He paused, then spoke again. “This compound could house many people, and even though you and I were both residing in it, it still hunted for me despite being afraid of you. While intelligent enough to identify individual threats, it may not have been wise enough to understand both threats and potential food were in the same space. The smugglers may have tired of continually defeating it, only for it to return for those who did not contribute to each fall.”

“Makes sense,” Eli said as the fuh'ceh'wah crossed the threshold and began making its way for the treeline. Its claws seemed to gain better purchase on the soft ground, and it made good time. A few minutes later, it had disappeared into the swamp.

“Listen.” Eli said, and Thrawn cocked his head. “The swamp. It’s quiet.” Eli swallowed hard. “Whatever else lives in there knows its back.”

Thrawn nodded. “That is a good thing. It indicates this has happened before, and the other creatures wish to hide from it while it recovers.”

“Yeah.” Eli glanced down at the head still in the mud. “What are we gonna do with that?”

Thrawn peered at the head with interest. “Are there any crates that could house it?”

Eli thought back to his search of the compound. “Yeah, I think so. Why? You’re not thinking of taking it with us?” Eli asked, astounded. 

“I am,” Thrawn said, hobbling forward to study the head more closely. “I believe the Emperor may find it useful. He has indicated he has an interest in beasts with the sort of regenerative properties the fuh'ceh'wah possess.”

Eli shuddered. He still remembered the terrible, cold, dangerous aura that surrounded Emperor Palpatine when he joined Thrawn in the throne room years prior. Thrawn and the Emperor had since maintained a steady series of communications since Thrawn had been assigned to the  _ Bloodcrow _ , and Eli had always wondered what they discussed. 

“I guess I can pack it up, since you can’t really lift it,” Eli said, eyeing the head with distaste. “You need help getting back to the office?”

“I can manage,” Thrawn said, turning back to the building. “Once you have secured it, will you return and sit with me?” His eyes glittered. “I think we have some things to discuss.” While his tone was serious, Eli caught the hint of a smile cross his features, and he smiled back.

“Yeah. I reckon we ought to get our story straight. Who kept night-watch at what time, and all.” Eli said with a snort, and Thrawn chuckled as well. 

“Indeed. And perhaps prepare some more stories for future use.”

Eli grinned, and, struck by a sudden fit of confidence, he took a deliberate step closer to Thrawn. “I’d like that,” he said, gazing up at Thrawn and arching a brow in unasked question. 

Thrawn answered with a smile and leaned forward, bringing a hand up to gently cup Eli’s face as they kissed, short and chaste, but full of emotion nonetheless.

“I’d like that a lot,” Eli murmured as he pulled away, and he gave Thrawn one final grin before turning back to the fuh'ceh'wah’s skull. “Now, lemme see about gettin’ this packed up. I’m pretty much done with this swamp.”

“As I am,” Thrawn said in agreement, and he led the way back inside the compound. He was still moving slowly, favoring his injured leg, but Eli could see he was well on the mend. Eli had placed the stitches well, and it looked to be healing smoothly, with no visible sign of infection. 

Eli took heart in that as they set about their separate tasks, making ready to leave the swamp. He had no idea what was going to happen with him and Thrawn - how long they could keep whatever it was they now had hidden, or if it would even last long enough for that to be a concern. But he didn’t mind. He and Thrawn had proven they could handle whatever the galaxy decided to throw at them, if they worked together. 

That was enough for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fuh'ceh'wah isn't dead - it begins to regrow its head, which is described as grotesque and mildly bloody. It can crawl and is afraid of Thrawn and Eli, but they usher it back into the swamp. 
> 
> While its story ends with it disappearing into the swamp, I HC it makes a full recovery and happily hunts in the swamp for the rest of its seemingly unlimited days!


End file.
